A celebration of life!!

My sweet friends Jessica Cottam and Andrea Strong threw me a baby shower. When they asked if they could I was so overwhelmed because I wasn't expecting a shower for a third baby. I've always thought it would be fun because every baby deserves to be celebrated but usually even a second baby shower is hard to come by. The women around here love to party and will find any excuse to get all the girls together so I was thrilled to be their excuse.
What a fun group of women!! I don't know if I've mentioned before how much I LOVE LOVE LOVE my new ward. There is such a huge variety of fun people to hang out with and everyone has been so inclusive and welcoming to our little family. I've been the "new girl" in so many places that I've gotten pretty used to being an outsider but I don't feel that way here. They have really taken our family under their wings and made us feel right at home.
So I'm glad I have a few pictures to put in the baby's record book to show that even though he is the third, he is loved and people still celebrated his forthcoming birth. Happy day for us all!!

No cavities for this cool cat!!

I'm embarrassed to admit that in the five years I've had children, they've never been to a dentist. I have some really good excuses like that we've moved a bazillion times, we were too lazy to find a good dentist in our particular area, and that we never really thought about it. These are ridiculous excuses, I know, but most excuses are. Oh well!

I noticed while brushing Sadie's teeth the other day that they were looking a little yellow so I finally got off my lazy arse and asked some friends for dental recommendations.
The kids never complained of tooth aches and I am vigilant (to say the least) at brushing, flossing and mouth washing their teeth every night. It was to be a pleasant visit where only cleaning would be necessary. Well, my vigilance paid off because I was not only told they both had no cavities, but that their teeth had been very well taken care of. Forget the kids, hooray for me!!!

Sadie was great at sitting still and getting her teeth cleaned. Jack, on the other hand, wouldn't let the dentist even look in his mouth at first. He had an angry scowl the entire time with his classic head down, "eyes rolling up" look. Eventually we got him to open up and get a good cleaning but it was tricky!!

Hooray for no cavities and no dental bills!! I can't say the same for me when I go in for a check up after the baby comes. I don't have the same expectations for my mouth:-)

Potty Language

Lately we've had to have some serious talks around our house (or sometimes in the car). With the whole Sandusky news breaking out I felt I had to talk to Sadie about coming to me or Dad if she feels someone has ever touched her inappropriately and to never be afraid that something will happen to us if she does. She seemed to understand.

We've also had to rehash the "potty language" vocabulary again and again. Why is it so funny to say poo, bum, and pee and boobies? I don't get it? We haven't gotten into the really crass words thank goodness but I feel I am always handing her spinach leaves at least on a weekly basis. Now for a substitution for a nasty thing to call her brother Sadie will simply say "oh potty language!" It's actually pretty clever and makes me laugh every time I hear it. She also has a friend who lives down the street who takes the Lord's name in vain as a frequent part of her vocabulary. Sadie seems to be a sponge because I've had to talk to her about not saying "oh my God" several times for the last couple of weeks. I've explained over and over to her about why we can't say that and I think she understands. I also told her that it's ok to ask her friend (or her friend's mom) to say "oh my goodness" instead. Sometimes I feel we may seem like the Flanders family from the Simpsons and I don't want to come off snobby at all.

She has really improved in the last couple of weeks and am pleased to say I think we have a handle on the situation. I'm just worried for the high school years when "fudge, shiz, HEdouble hockey sticks, and dag nabbit" come into play. She does say some pretty funny things too. When she's cold she's say "I'm FREEZING Mom. Turn on the heat busters." Who knows where she heard that one:-)

Rain Rain You Can Stay

Texas is finally getting some much needed rain and the kids are LOVING it!!

Guess what Jack's getting for Christmas

A sandbox!! Otherwise, Mom will go crazy sweeping dirt off the driveway all the time!!

Cannonball Thanksgiving!!

We loved having Pops, CC and Curt visit us for Thanksgiving this year. They arrived on Sunday and let Chase and I take off for a couple of days to San Antonio for a temple trip. It's hard to get to the temple when you have little ones, especially when it's an hour and a half away. Babysitters rake in the dough around here. AT $8 an hour when you're gone all day, it can get VERY expensive. We took full advantage of free babysitters and stayed overnight at the Hyatt and enjoyed every second of sleeping in the next morning. I don't think we left our hotel room to get breakfast until noon!

I had never heard anything spectacular about the city of San Antonio. Of course there's the Alamo, but I had never heard of the river walk which was right below our hotel. It was delightful and the food was spectacular. We ate at a restaurant that night that had the yummiest salmon I've ever tasted. The next morning we ate breakfast at the Guenther House which is known for their breakfast. I was impressed with the antique home and it's gardens but the food was nothing to rave about, especially after waiting an hour to be seated:-)

The temple was amazing!! It is one of the "mini temples" that was recently built when Present Hinckley came up with the idea. I loved all the hard wood floors and stain glass windows. Truly a beautiful temple. I ended up sitting next to Jessica Knepp who is the angel who jumped in the pool when she saw that Jack had fallen in last summer. I don't think I'll even forget this woman because she literally saved my baby's life. It was delightful sitting next to her as she has since moved to Arkansas and was only visiting Texas for Thanksgiving. On our way out of San Antonio we ate at an Italian restaurant called Dough which literally had the BEST PIZZA I'VE EVER TASTED!! If ever there was a reason to attend the temple more frequently, Dough artisan pizza dough has certainly made it an easier conquest.

As soon as we got home on Wednesday we took the Cannons down to town lake for a little Austin sightseeing, some Torchy's trailer tacos, and a relaxing canoe ride. I still can't get over how beautiful Austin is. even in a severe drought, the lake's shores were breathtaking.

After running around all day with no nap, Jack completely passed out on the canoe, sitting up!! Poor little guy was so tuckered out. I noticed he was drooping a little as he sat next to me and couldn't believe he was actually sleeping. My large belly was useful at this point for a little headrest:-)

Thanksgiving was exciting because I knew we were going to have Connie's orange rolls and I was excited to try all the other family recipes she had up her sleeve. Jack loved helping CC make the cranberry sauce and we all loved eating it!! We were pretty much in the kitchen all day while the men had their "cross fit" workout and took the kids on a long walk to the park.
It was nice spending so much time with Connie. I feel so fortunate to have such fantastic in-laws. They're so fun to talk to and always have hilarious things to say. The weather cooperated and we were able to eat outside on the deck with our new red picnic table. Chase and I love the ambiance of Chuy's so much, we decided to make our backyard look the same with a picnic table and white lights above us. We love eating outside and LOVE not having to sweep and mop the floor inside afterwards:-)
Dinner was fantastic. I made my Mom's stuffing and stuffed mushrooms, Curt made the potatoes, and Pops roasted the turkey. DELISH!! My only complaint was that I couldn't eat it fast enough and it got cold. That happens to me every year. I am an even slower eater when I'm prego.
Jack pretty much just ate CC's orange rolls. Who wouldn't?
We can never get him to stay and eat very long, especially when we're outside. It wasn't long before he was out of his chair and scooping dirt into his dump truck.

Sadie just relished her time with Pops, CC, and Curt while they were here. She talked about them coming for a month before they came and talked about how much she missed them after they left. It's hard living so far away from family. Even Jack who I think is pretty oblivious to life sometimes mentioned how much he missed Pops totally out of the blue and a while after they had already left!

Curt especially will be missed by the kiddos (and us too, of course). He has such a way with them that they never want to leave him alone. He brought them these cool wooden carved animals from Africa and his crazy self to keep the kids entertained. It was nice having someone else for Sadie and Jack to leach onto. I just hope they didn't wear him out!!

Thanks for coming guys. Come again soon!!

Growing up and climbing out

Jack is getting old!! It makes me sad because he's always been my squishy, chubby cheeked, little buddy. He's still squishy, has chubby cheeks, but the buddy part is becoming more of a challenge. Lately he's been phasing into the "tantrum stage" and has recently learned how to get out of his crib. This has been nothing short of TOTALLY ANNOYING!! The first night we realized he could get out of his crib, we didn't get him to sleep until 11 p.m. that night. Being the geniuses that we are, Chase and I FINALLY figured out that we can lock him in after three hours of trying to get him to stay in his room. He fell asleep as we were changing out the doorknobs. All tuckered out!!


We have tried to compromise (with a two year old:-) and tell Jack that if he stays in his crib we won't lock his door. He does NOT like being locked in and tells us throughout the day "Don't lock my door Mom." He says this with a angry rolled eyed look on his face. Obviously he isn't old enough to "make a deal" with his parents and has only stayed in his room a few times when we leave his door unlocked. He now insists that we leave his door open at night. He goes into Sadie's room at 5 a.m. in the morning just to say hello. It's actually kind of sweet. Sadie has told me that he'll jump in bed with her and snuggle while they talk and giggle. When I hear their little voices up there I usually let them have a couple of minutes to bond before we stick Jack back in his crib.

The other night he and Sadie came into our room at 3:50 a.m. Sadie was clearly confused because she was fully dressed for school. If we hadn't been so tired it would have been really funny but IT WASN'T!! It's time to get Jack a "big boy" bed but I don't feel like I can do this right now. I'm worried that with the baby coming in soon he'll feel really misplaced with out his crib, especially if the baby starts to use it.

I'm just glad he's going through this now to "prepare" me for the hurricane which is bound to come when the baby comes. Sadie was a mess when we brought Jack home. Hopefully it won't be as bad with Jack but at least we are gearing up for it with him waking up SUPER early in the morning and needing to be rocked to sleep for naps.

He might be getting big but he still makes me smile when he yells "kissmas tees" every time he sees lights. He's been screaming it out the car window ever since Halloween when people had decorations up for the trick or treaters. Sadie is adamant about teaching him to say things correctly. He's told "it's Christmas lights, not Christmas trees Jack!" She tries to help him enunciate his words which makes me laugh because Sadie has one of the cutest little lisps every time we says an "S."


He loves to wrestle around with Dad and play fumble in the front room (which always ends in some sort of an injury:-). He insists on holding his Halloween bag while he eats his meals. "I just wanna hold it mom." I am such a sucker for this little guy. He got candy WAY earlier in life than Sadie did. I'm also a sucker when it comes to his pacifier. He loves his "bibi" and has at least two in his possession at all times. He also been seen carrying 4-5 around as well. Chase gets mad when he sees a binky in Jack's mouth and always takes it away. I just like the peace and quiet, so when I'm around, Jack gets his way. He just loves them so much!


He carries a Ziploc bag around with his cars inside almost everywhere we go. He gets sad when Sadie goes to school and asks where she is throughout the day. We had breakfast with some friends this morning and as we were driving away he asked me where Preston (his little buddy) was and said "I wanted to say goodbye Mom."

He's singing his ABC's and a lot of other songs I didn't know he knew. Often I'll hear him singing Happy Birthday, Thomas and his Friends, Jingle Bells, and Rudolf the Red nose reindeer. I love his little voice. Whenever we pass by the restaurant Chuy's he'll shout out "Chuy's!!" in his little enthusiastic chipmunk sounding voice. He's learning how to count VERY well. At breakfast I'll bring down puzzles and we work through them while he eats. He knows all of his shapes. I love hearing him say "trapezoid and octagon." It totally cracks me up! He's also learned a lot of the letter's sounds and will say them out loud to us when we pick up a letter. He's become amazingly proficient with my iPhone. He navigates around the apps. like it's no one's business and watching him play angry birds is hilarious. A little smarty pants!!

He'll say stuff like "that makes me sad" whenever he's not allowed to do anything. He'll give anyone a kiss if they are sad so we do the same for him. He's still a little snuggler and I wrap him up in a fuzzy red blanket every afternoon for his nap. We rock in the rocking chair and sing songs until his eyes get droopy. I know it's a bad habit to rock your kid to sleep but I'm relishing the time that he'll still let me do this with him. Cuddle time is my favorite time of the day, besides of course when he and Sadie are both in bed and I get to snuggle with my Chase.

I'm so glad when Sadie comes home!!

Having Sadie gone all day is hard for little Jack. When school first started back in September he asked where she was every day. He's now gotten used to her being gone in the morning and is elated when she comes home. I hear "where Sidi go?" or "lets go get Sidi" frequently throughout the week.
I'm so glad they're little buddies.

Third Trimester

This picture, taken by Sadie, was at the end of the second trimester. I laugh that I "thought" I was uncomfortable then. Looking back I wish I was still that small. My only real complaints are the exhaustion I feel. I LOVE the weekends so I can sleep in. Getting Sadie up for school every morning is getting OLD!! My back starts to hurt in the same spot every night around 7. That's also about the time my nose completely clogs up and I have to bring out the nasal spray. JOY!! Another annoyance is the lack of bladder control. The lower this baby sits the harder it has become to sneeze or cough with out having little accidents. I feel like I need to be potty trained all over again!
Once we've hit the third trimester, non-maternity clothing goes out the window. Once this shirt started to look like this, we decided to let it retire for a season...or two.
Other than the fact that I am COMPLETELY addicted to Afrin and somewhat dependant on Unisom, this pregnancy is going along quite swimmingly. I have all these desires to improve our home and get it ready for visitors and the baby. The only problem is my lack of motivation at times. Once I stand up I get a lot done. It's just getting up that seems to be the real challenge these days. I have all these furniture pieces I want to paint and the thought of tackling the project seems TOTALLY overwhelming to me. A nap sounds WAY better.
Chase and I got a babysitter and went shopping the other night. We ended up at Forever 21 and Chase seemed a little bugged...at first. Then he noticed a men's section and I had to practically drag him up to the register as they were closing up for the night. He found this shirt and I approved not knowing that in a few days I'd be wearing it myself. Sorry Chase. It needed to be broken in before you wore it:-)

Trick or Treat

Sadie was thrilled that we were going to be trick or treating with her best buddy Avery who also happens to live two doors down from us. They are in the same class at school and have quickly become bosom buddies. Carl and Stacey invited us down for a quick Halloween dinner and then we were off to "get candy, get candy, get candy."


Sadie and Avery ran from door to door. Jack and Avery's little brother Evan (also two years old) had a hard time keeping up. We shuttled Jack around in the stroller and all he did was hold up his bag at the door with out getting out. When he got sick of that, he and Chase ran around with him on Dad's shoulders.

You would think we had handed him the moon! He couldn't believe everyone was just giving him candy!! Sadie took full advantage of the couple of hours we were out. She knew what was behind every door!

Nesting gone wrong

Ever since Sadie got pink cowboy boots for Christmas she decided she wanted to be a cowgirl for Halloween the following year. Our favorite book 'round these parts is Every Cowgirl Needs a Horse.


Chase and I are accustomed these days to reading the book in full Texas drawls and we're big fans of Miss Nellie Sue and her similar obsession with horses. In fact, it was because of this book that Sadie assumed we would automatically have a horse when we moved to Texas. Nellie Sue had a garage and that solidified the fact that because we too would have a garage, there would be a horse inside.



Miss Nellie Sue's outfit was my first inspiration when I thought of how I wanted Sadie's costume to look. However, I DO NOT SEW! My mother didn't sew, but both my grandmother's did. They also crocheted. I have since picked up crocheting in my spare and diminishing time so why couldn't I pick up sewing as well.


I brought out the sewing machine Chase gave me when I was pregnant (and also nesting) with Sadie. It had collected some dust over the years but I could still remember how to string the machine and thread a bobbin. Basics. I can do the basics. All of my previous projects had either been making baby blankets for the kids (sewing in a straight line happened to be very hard for me at the time:-), embellishing burp cloths (don't ask), an attempt at making Sadie a dress with bloomers (another sore subject you shouldn't bring up), and that's about it from the budding seamstress inside me.


One of my favorite blogs is http://www.dana-made-it.com/. I'm sure you've heard of it. She makes everything look really easy to accomplish and when I saw a link to a cowboy vest I was sold. I told myself "I can TOTALLY do this." Before I dove into the project of my second attempt at making "wearable" clothing, I searched online for cowgirl costumes that resembled Nellie Sue. There wasn't one and most of them were either too short, too cheap looking and had the WRONG color scheme. We needed pink!!


I gave in and got all the supplies. No turning back now. It must be the nesting mother inside me that wanted to do this because I only gave myself a week to whip these puppies out thinking I could do it in an evening like Dana did. I was WRONG!!


This mama bird was FUMING at the end of the week. I thought I had until Halloween which was a Monday but Chase kindly informed me that the ward trunk or treat was actually on Friday so I'd probably want to get them done by then. I know he meant well but I almost threw the felt fabric and needles at him. I wanted to scream..."YOU DO IT THEN" but then the little annoying voice inside my head told me, "you wanted to do this...remember?"

I finished the costumes about an hour before the trunk or treat. I ended up measuring Sadie's chaps with the wrong jeans so they were WAY too big. Jack's ended up being too big as well so I had to shorten those too. In the last hours I felt like a contestant on Project Runway racing the clock before it was too late.


Next time (if there will ever be one of those) I will try the outfit on BEFORE the last day. Sadie's outfit was WAY more time intensive than Jack's. I added sequins and realized halfway through that I was really pushing my luck. I was just beginning to work with fabric. I shouldn't have attempted the sequins. Sadie also mentioned a few days before that Nellie Sue had riding gloves. RIDING GLOVES?! No problem sweetie!!


I found some polyester white gloves in the dollar spot at Target. I just sewed felt on top of those and called them "riding gloves." They were hard to get on, but worked splendidly!! Maurine and Sara must have been guiding me from heaven because I finished right in the nick of time, well not really. We barely made it on time for the parade and most of the yummy dinner options were gone.


We took the kids to a field by our house with cactus for a real "western effect" photo shoot. It was all hunky dory until Sadie decided to touch a cactus and everything was downhill from there. Oh well, it was time to leave anyway. Candy was to be had!!


The best part of the Trunk or Treat was having Macy Robinson there to take pictures of everyone in their costumes. She's an amazing photographer in our ward and brought all her studio supplies to the ward stage. In between the chili and cornbread, we ran up there and got a few shots taken of our little lone stars.


We were sadly disappointed to not be able to find our billy bob teeth for the pics. You know you're getting old when you can't find your teeth right? The truth is I found about three (yes, that's right, I have three) of my own pairs but we couldn't find Chase's anywhere. I wasn't about to wear them if Chase wasn't going to wear his. I guess I'm not as brave as I used to be.


You can clearly see Jack's disappointment at not winning the best costume prize (I like to think he's making that face on my behalf:-). The bishop's family ended up winning (figures) and all they did was put white tape on red shirts to resemble a "Where's Waldo" get-up. Oh well. We know who the REAL winners are.



Happy Trails everyone!!