The Daily Cramer

Thanksgiving & Christmas

2012-01-21T14:33:00.000-08:00

On Thanksgiving day Brad ran the turkey trot. Last year when Brad and I ran the turkey trot it was -1 degrees. The boys wanted to go watch so I thought it would be best if Brad ran alone so I could take our kids to the van if it got too cold. However, when we got to the race the boys saw lots of kids in the race and the weather was beautiful! They were sad I didn't sign them up to run too. I think next year we will watch the weather and sign us all up if it looks like it will be nice enough.

Waiting for Dad to finish we walked around the park and saw a fish frozen in a puddle where the river usually flows through. The boys thought that was awesome!
The boys had fun finding rocks and sticks while we waited. Ethan & Lily got their pic taken with a huge Turkey guy that was walking around at the finish line. Eddie thought he was a little scary.

Yeah dad!Brad's sister Candace made this cute hat for Lily... unfortunately she destroyed the pompom on top on the ride to Walmart
Ethan finished his 1st book series, The Diary of a Wimpy kid, way to go Ethan!
Decorating the tree
We went to Snake River Landing one night. Below is a pic of the boys sitting on a deer by the fire while we waited in line for a sleigh ride. It was a fun but COLD night!
On the sleigh ride. It was really crowded but we had fun!
After the sleigh ride we went to see Santa. Ethan was acting like a goofball for the picture because there was a cute girl from his class waiting in line to see Santa next, silly boy
I had the opportunity to help our church's primary children put on the nativity for the Christmas party.
All the kids did really well. Below Ethan is the one holding his feet...I don't know why he wasn't wearing shoes.
Eddie fixing his costume
I found Wolverine and Spider Man playing ball in the toy room
I like this happy pic of Lily
We made Gingerbread houses. I think 6 pieces made it onto Lily's house and then she was done. Those are her favorite Minnie Mouse Jammies, she calls them "Monser or monster jammies" and wants to wear them EVERY night. It is a good thing I do laundry almost everyday!
Hard at work

At snack time Lily & I were standing in front of the fridge and I asked her what she wanted for a snack and she said tayda & pointed to a baked potato. She ate it cold, plain, skin & all. That's our lil' Idaho girl.

My sister Bethany and her little girl Eveline (Evi) came to our house for Christmas. They are from TN. They had been visiting my mom & step-dad in WA for several weeks while my brother in law was in Afghanistan. They all came down together along with my other sister Jeni and her husband and 2 kids. We had 7 adults and 6 kids under 7yr. I hadn't seen Bethany and Evi since Evi was a little baby, it was SO great spending time with them! Below is Eddie and Eveline playing ponies. Eddie and Eveline are named after our grandpa and grandma, it was kind of fun having little Ed & Evi together
Jason (Brad's brother) and Lindsay came for Christmas from TX. Lily LOVES her uncle Jason!
Candace made a puppy hat for Eddie and Ethan. The boys love them! Thanks Candace!
We had a Christmas Party with Brad's family. Santa came and brought Jammies and the kids opened their gifts from Grandma and Grandpa. Below is Ethan holding up a science kit. Thanks Grandpa & Grandma!
Ethan holding his cousin Issac. He is such a sweet happy baby
Christmas Eve night ready for bed in our new Christmas jammies!
Here are our 6 cute little kids. It was pretty tricky getting all of them to stay on the couch together! Eddie, Ethan, Issac, Lily Shyla, Evi
Grandma reading to our cute girls, Shyla, Evi & Lil'
Ready for Christmas!
We tried to take a pic of the kids after church Christmas morning in their new church clothes and Lily cried and cried. Oh well, they still looked cute happy or not. The boys got their nice outfits from Grandma Diane & Grandpa Greg. They look so nice in them, thank you!
Sleepy eyed on Christmas morning. Lil pushed her new baby in the stroller ALL day
Ethan with his double light saber and General Grievous mask
Eddie and his Batmobile
Grandma reading reading reading! My mom brought down my old little rocking chair and baby cradle my grandpa made me. Mom made new padding for the chair and a blanket for the cradle, thanks mom, Lil' sits in that chair constantly!
Making cookies for Santa
ID has had very very little snow, but we needed to get out of the house and do something fun so we went sledding & it was great! Brad and Lil flying down the hill
I lost my sled at the bottom of the hill and Lily, Shyla and I took a little tumble
Eddie & Evi, Wheeee!
Ethan & Shyla, I love their happy little faces!
Me & Lily, Bethany & Evi, Jeni & Shyla. My sisters and our girls. We just need Wendy in the pic, her little girl is due on my b-day this April!
Eddie, Mom & Shyla, Evi, Bethany & Lily
Jeni & Issac
My dad bought the girls these dresses, they looked so cute skipping and twirling around the house in them but it was really hard to get them to sit together and smile long enough for a picture! Thanks Dad & Carren. I think Jeni has a bunch of pics, this is the best one I have. We will get you a copy of one of them.
Lily calls this her HoHo dress because it has Santa sleeves
One afternoon the kids needed to get out of the house and wear off some energy so my mom and Step dad took the kids to Blast off. Lily was napping so I sent the camera with them. Looks like they had fun! Evi in a costume in the ball pit
My step brother Darrick, his wife Sharon and their kids Jane, Max and Charlie live in Idaho Falls. Below Jane is coming out of the slide, Yeah!
Ethan wearing...a dragon suit?
Eddie & Jane
Dan & Steph (Brad's sister) were in town for Christmas, we love when they come to see us!
Grandma reading more books...I didn't realize I had so many pics of my mom reading to the kids, it is easier to take their picture when they are holding still!
Evi showing me her Christmas things. I loved having my family here for Christmas and playing with my nieces and nephew. It was a bit crazy and stressful at times but I loved having them here and being together
This is Eddie's new thing, he does it constantly, everywhere! Silly kid
Lily's hair is growing longer!
Getting ready for church, got my tights on....
They are a bit big
Lily got this cute dress from Grandma Diane, so cute! Thank you Grandma!
I went to see my newest nephew Charlie, very cute and sweet. My mom and step dad tried to wait for him to be born while they were in town for Christmas...he was born the day after he left. :( but I got to go see him! :) Sorry mom, you'll have to come back down to Idaho!

Fall

2011-11-22T13:23:00.000-08:00

This is the last of 4 blog updates I have done in the last couple of days. To see the others scroll down and hit "older posts". So glad to be caught up again. Enjoy!

Brad's dad came over and helped us in our backyard with his tractor. The boys rode in the bucket when he was done.

I love Lily's little braid. She had tubes put in her ears in October. The surgery was so fast! It only took about 7 minutes! We had to be to the hospital with her fasting at 5:30am and that was the hard part. The surgery was suppose to be at 7, but the doc didn't get there until 7:20. But, by 7:30 she was done and in our arms. She was mad and screamed for about 45 min. The rest of the day she was fine. We are really hoping she will have less ear infections!

Yeah! Ethan's tooth finally came out!
I took Lily trick or treating up and down our street and then I took her home and left her with Brad who was answering our door. I took the Boys out longer and this is what we found when we got back! All that mess is candy! Brad had to take away her bucket because she was eating them wrappers and all.
Ready to trick or treat!
Pumpkins!

We had a family Halloween/birthday party and everyone dressed up in costumes, except poor Eddie who was sick.
Ethan wanted a Despicable Me party for his 7th b-day in October. Brad dressed up like Gru to direct the games. I think they all had a lot of fun
Minion cakes made out of Twinkies
Ethan decided he really wanted to try wrestling. He really liked it, and did really well but by the end of the season we were all glad to be done.

Amazing how many people attend a wrestling tournament. This was only about half of them, the other half were behind me in the stands!

Picking pumpkins, burr it was freezing!
Brad and his Dad took the boys to an ISU football game and had a tail gate party before going in. Eddie thought this meant they had to eat in the trunk.

We got a bunny from a guy that Brad works with. He is pretty low maintenance and the kids love him. They named him Snowball

Ethan got reading glasses!
This is Allie, Lily's best pal. She asks to go to Allies house all the time.
When I put Lily in a onsie she likes to put things down the front of her shirt like cars and snacks. She thinks she is so funny until she tries to get these things back out, then it makes her mad because she can't!
We had a really scary experience in Sept. Lily fell down our stairs backwards and cut her head open and had to get 2 staples! Her head was so swollen it looked like a strawberry on the back of her head. Watching her get held down, and sitting there watching them do it while she looked at me screaming was the hardest moment I have had as a mom. I just sat there and cried. She was happier when they gave her 2 stickers.
Before the bath, she had blood in her hair
During the bath it was easier to see her staples. She is our 1st to have surgery, to have staples, and to get stung by a bee which happened a couple of days after getting staples. I hope she is not our 1st to have a broken bone, but I wouldn't be surprised.

Summer, summer, summer

2011-11-22T09:17:00.000-08:00

When Brad's mom was on a trip to see her parents in UT, Brad's dad came to eat dinner with us one night and brought some yummy cupcakes!

We went to eat at Applebees and they had face painting!
Poor Eddie, he had had a long day
I did a lot of canning this summer/fall. I did some peaches, pears, applesauce and freezer tomatoes and 10 dozen corn. I had a hard time keeping Lily from taking bites out of all of it! She is such a helper!
We took a trip to see Brad's grandparents in Payson UT. They have a carnival and parade on Labor day, we had a lot of fun!

On our way to Brad's grandparents house we stopped at the Bean Museum on BYU campus and looked at all the animals. While we were there they did a live reptile show and the boys were excited to touch the huge turtle

We took our 3rd trip to WA this year, first stopping in Boise for a family reunion and picking up my sister Wendy at the airport there. She flew from CT and spent time with us at the reunion and then we went the rest of the way to WA to see my mom and my grandparents and to spend a little more time with my sister Jeni's family. Below is a pic of her 2 kids (Shyla ans Issac) and mine wearing the tie dye shirts they made with my mom.
We went to the fair while we were in WA. It was actually the day before it opened just to see the animals. The kids are looking at pigs in the pic below. The highlight of the trip to the fair was Ethan got to bottle feed a calf named Butter.
Making tie dye shirts at my mom's house
We loved getting to spend time with Aunt Wendy and wish CT wasn't so far away!

We spent an afternoon at my Grandma/pa Kauer's house visiting with my aunt and uncle and my cousin Ben's family. My Grandma has about everything you can think of to keep kids busy outside. They jumped on the tramp, played in the playhouse, on the swings and swam. They had a great time

My dad's side of the family had a big reunion this year with my Aunts/Uncles and cousins and their families. Not everyone was able to make it but there was still a big crowd. We played games, made crafts, swam, roasted marshmallows and had a really fun time catching up.
Eddie doing crafts
This is the huge lodge where we cooked and ate
This is looking out from the lodge at the field, fire pit and pool
This is the little cabin our family shared w/ Jeni's family and Wendy. The only things in the cabin were bare bunk beds, but there was room for port a cribs thank goodness and bathrooms and electricity in the lodge.
Ethan and Aunt Gloria (my dad's older sister) doing crafts
My cousin Lori's little girl Jenna looked A LOT like our Lily. Lori's mom and my dad are twins so I thought this was interesting. Jenna is about a month older than Lily

More Summer pics

2011-11-21T19:39:00.001-08:00

This is one of my favorite dresses. She is wearing her bunny slippers inside Ethan's church shoes.

I wanted to take the kids to Rigby Lake to swim this summer and when summer was almost over and I still hadn't taken them I decided I was going to take them even if that meant I had to go by myself. We borrowed some life jackets, packed a lunch and had a great time!

There is a slide in Rigby Lake you can swim out to. Since I went to the lake alone I couldn't swim out there with the kids unless I took all of them out there with me and that wasn't going to work! Ethan really wanted to go so he put on a life Jacket and swam out there alone. I was really nervous standing on the bank, but I was really proud of him for doing it!

We went to the Snake River Roaring Youth Jam again this year. The Arts council and a lot of volunteers set up crafts and fun things for the kids to do. Brad's mom met us there and we made a lot of crafts and had a lot of fun!
This is a huge xylophone the kids can paint or play. The paint splatters everywhere!

Thanks Diane for coming with us, we had a lot of fun!

She was so proud of her self...I still haven't been able to get it all off the floor.
Ice cream and swimming are some of the best things about summer!

The swing set had a broken string and we finally fixed it! Yeah, we were all so excited!
The City of Idaho Falls has a picnic for all of it's employees each year and they open up the rides at Fun Land and the zoo for free. After we ate we rode all the rides and then Brad was on clean up and I took the kids to the zoo. I forgot Lily's stroller which was the worst part about going to the zoo aside from not having help. The kids were terrible! They could have passed for belonging in the zoo if I had snuck them into the monkey house! The picture below summarizes all the fun we had at the zoo that night.
A lady Brad works with offered to let us ride a ride while she watched our kids. We hadn't been on a ride together in a long time so it was fun for us to do that and to see our little kids watching us through the fence

Brad's family had a family reunion and this is a picture of us before we started our hike. Lily loved the backpack we borrowed from a friend, it was so nice to have. It was more of a stroll than a hike since we had to stop and wait for the kids to catch this and that with their butterfly nets along the way.
On the hike back down Lily took a mini nap.
Brad's mom bought the boys each a butterfly net. They LOVED them and used them to catch anything they could find. Thank you Diane!!!
The boys had a great time with their cousins, Carter & Elise. It was so nice for them to have some kids to play with at camp
The kids spent most of their time in the stream trying to catch little fish with their butterfly nets.
There were several hammocks at camp and the kids loved them!

Summer fun catch up

2011-11-21T13:04:00.000-08:00

Here are some pics of the 4th of July and other things we have done this summer.

Below is Brad and his boys watching the fireworks.

Lil eating a cupcake watching the fireworks
Fun with sparklers
Ethan thought he was a wizard!

Lily was a lot braver this year while we lit fireworks. She was a lot braver than her big brothers too!
The kids watching from the distance as dad lights the fire works
Brad and Lily in their Dodgers gear
Brad's parent's bought a slip n slide and a blow up pool for the BBQ. The big kids and the little kids had a lot of fun! Eddie and his dad
Ethan and his dad
Lily skipped the slip n slide action and was content to sit on the blow up slide
Lil and me
Brad's parent's, Brother, sister's and their spouses and our family all at the parade
Brad's mom has a tradition of buying the kids a 4th of July outfit. This was Lily's. Thanks Diane!
Lily and Grandma Laura (Brad's Dad's mom) reading stories
Lily loved Eddie's swim goggles

Eddie took swimming lessons this summer ans loved it. He did 3 sessions, they go down the slide 2 times on one day each 2 week session. The 1st session he was the first one in line to go down. He climbed up, looked down and climbed down. He refused to go! The next 2 sessions we talked about it and he went once each session. It was a pretty big deal when he finally went down!

Ethan ready to hit the ball in machine pitch baseball.
Our fish Eddie

This Summer we decided to take a quick/close camp out trip to Rigby Lake for one night. We roasted hot dogs and marshmallows, threw lots of rocks in the lake and spent the night in our tent. Everyone was happy.

Lily loved playing w/the hose this summer and getting her hair wet even if it was REALLY cold!
Ethan has been taking piano from Diane (Brad's mom) for over a year now. This is the two of them after his recital.
The boys and I ran a 1 mile race and Snake River Landing. This is after right before getting free ice cream for participating. They boys got shirts and medals too. It was a lot of fun.
The boys came home from their friends house looking like this...I laughed and laughed. The decided to face paint with water colors. I was so glad it washed right off in the bath!

Lily eating a Huge Marshmallow, she calls them, "Pallows"
Brad took the boys to Big Judd's after father and sons camp-out so they could eat a huge hamburger together. They had a great time...so did Lily and I at home in the very peaceful house!
Lily and I took a trip to WA to see my brother Jared and his family who came to visit from OK. Mom and Jeni made Lily and my nieces matching dresses.

Shyla, Dick, Lily, Issac, Mom Allie. What a cute bunch!
We met my grandparents at Granny's Buffet and all had dinner. This is Scott's favorite place to eat so we go there almost every time I visit. It is a good way to get to see him on my visits. Grandma/pa Kauer (my mom's parents) Dick (my step-dad), my not so little brother Scott, Shyla my niece, my mom, Issac, me, Lily, my older sister Jeni (Issac and Shyla's mom) My other not so little brother and his little girl Allie.
Eddie Turned 4 in June. He said he wanted dirt cake and a scooter and that's what he got!

Remodel

2011-11-20T21:07:00.000-08:00

I haven't blogged since June...so I am ready to do some catching up!

My dad came in June and was a clown for Eddie's birthday party, I think they all had a fantastic time, thanks dad! Below Eddie is proudly wearing his balloon hat
I love the happy look on Eddie's face!
While my dad was in town he also helped us remodel this room. These are the before pics

This is what we found under the blue carpet and what it looked like after the paneling was ripped off the wall.
These are the after pics. We took off paneling, put up sheet rock, painted the walls, doors and frames and baseboards white. Put down laminant, bought a futon and put up a ceiling fan. Since these pics have been taken we also bought 2 black tub chairs, put up some decorations and are still looking for a rug and curtains. We love having the bright light, fan and no smelly blue carpet! Thanks a million dad for all your help and hard work! We love it and couldn't have done it without you!

Summing it up

2011-06-10T10:17:00.001-07:00

In the past 6 months Lily started walking and turned one. I traveled to UT, CT, NY and WA (2 times). Brad went to Boston, UT (at a different time than me) and CO. We both participated in a triathlon (Brad did 2). Not to mention since then we have celebrated V-day, Easter, our Anniversary, my b-days and Lily's. I could have blogged about each of these things by themselves but I've been a bit busy. So, to catch up on all the happenings I am going to sum it all up into one big blog and as always I will think to my self...I am going to blog sooner next time knowing it will probably be at least 3 months until I do this again. Sorry to friends and fam who live far away and have missed 6 months of cute Lily pic when you have all been so good about keeping your blogs updated so I could see your cute little ones. If you only wanted to see pics of the Tri and my trip to NY feel free to scroll pas everything else because this is a long one. Enjoy!

This is a pic of my friend Julie and I right before our triathlon May 28th. Last yr as I watched Brad do his 1st Tri I thought I could never do that because it would be way to hard. Through Brad and my sister Jeni's encouragement several months later I was considering it. When I went for my first run I kind of knew I was committing myself to it. When Julie found out I was training she said she would love to do it to and we could train together and so we did. We borrowed Jeni's bike trainer and put it in the basement during the winter, and ran on the treadmill and went to the pool. The day before the race we got everything ready, Julie picked me and Jeni up (she came all the way from WA to watch me!) and we got there just in time to see Brad heading down to the water. Brad was doing Olympic distance 1 mile swim, 25 mile bike, 6 mile run so he started 1 hr before us. We were doing sprint half of his distances w/ 1/2 mile swim, 12 mile bike and 3 mile run.

After Brad took off we got on our wet suits, it was so cold out, I was dreading getting in the water, we had been told 5 min or so before the race we needed to get in the water and so our bodies could get over the shock of cold and focus on the race when it was time. When I got in I thought, this is freezing but its going to be ok, I can do this! In this pic Julie and I are in the middle bottom, I have my goggles on my swim cap and I'm looking back to the shore. My feet were so cold I was holding them out of the water.

When we stared off I was nervous because Brad hadn't made it in and there were only a few Olympic swimmers left in the lake. Brad is a strong swimmer so I knew something was not right. He got severe leg cramps in both his legs and had to just float for a while until he could move again. That is him coming in at the very right of the pic, w/ the silver cap. We past each other him coming in and me going out and smiled an waved. I stared out pretty good, but it things got really bad for me after that. I had done the 1/2 mile at the pool several times and knew the distance wasn't going to ba a problem. But the water was so cold I mentally couldn't put my face in the water. ( I should have been getting my face use to the water the 5 min before) every time water splashed me in the face I would panic and had trouble controlling my breathing. I would turn over to backstroke until I could pull myself together. Doing this made it so I couldn't see where I was going and I'd start swimming off course. When I'd flip back over I had to make up for the distance I had swam in the wrong direction. I was tired and frustrated I couldn't force myself to swim normally. There were a few times I worried I was not going to make it all the way back. Each buoy seemed so far, like I was never going to get to it because I was swimming so slow and taking so long. Needless to say I was in the water a LONG time. By the time I got out I'm pretty sure I had some hypothermia going on because I was so confused. I just stood there while the strippers stripped my wet suit off and Jeni walked me to my bike, dried me off put on dry clothes and my shoes. I think I would have been happy to lay on the grass for a while. But they got me up, handed me my bike and I slowly staggered away. However, I was so grateful I didn't quit. I'm thankful Jeni was there to help me transition and that Julie was waiting there for me. One of the ladies there said they probably wouldn't have let me keep going if it hadn't been for Julie going w/me. Several people didn't get to continue the race after the swim and had to sit in cars to warm up.

This is where we were allowed to get on our bikes, I wasn't quiet ready yet so we walked it a little further and away we went!

Part way through the ride the sun came out of the clouds, it felt so good. As I warmed up I stared thinking more clearly and by the time the bike was over I was tired but doing ok!

Julie really was an amazing support. I love this pic with her cheering "Yeah! We are triathletes! Come on Michelle, we can do this!" Really I couldn't have done it w/out her. Thanks Julie for encouraging me and being there for me the whole way, you were awesome. Her family made a sign and took pics and cheered us on before and after every transition and that helped us keep going. Everybody need a great friend like Julie!

Here we wre getting our finisher metals, and although my swim slowed us up we weren't last!

Here we are running in to finish! We did it Julie, we are triathletes!

It was awesome to have Jeni there waiting to give me a hug as we crossed the finish line. I couldn't have done it w/out her either. She let us borrow her trainer, her running clothes, I borrowed her wet suit, she gave us a lot of advice answered all of my questions and encouraged me all through the training process. Thanks a million Jeni for everything!

Since Brad had to go a lot farther than us we were there to watch him come in, Yeah Brad!

Thanks Diane for babysitting!

Cramer council, hey what are you guys planning...what is so funny!

Lily pulling her self up to things to make a mess with

On a Saturday, having a magic show

After going through their picture for their scrapbooks there were so many left over they couldn't part w/ so I told them they could hang a few on their wall in their room. We have different definitions of a few, but they were so proud.

Lily's first sledding trip. She was very serious and still for the first half of the time we were there. I think she was trying to figure out what her crazy parents were up to. I think she enjoyed her self after a while.

Lily before she started walking.

First steps! She didn't actually start walking for almost a month after this, but loved to walk between two people. The boys love it as much as she did

Happy birthday big girl! Sometimes we call her Lily bug, so I made her lady bug cupcakes, she liked the M&M dots and licorice antana but decided it was funner to use her spoon to flip the cupcake off the tray and see if dad could catch it. He did and that was the beginning of the funnest game ever. The boys thought it was so funny too and would dab the cupcake frosting on her face before putting it back on her tray. She didn't like that part of the game.

This is what she looked like in the end. I think she is saying, "Mom get me out of here!"

We bought her the ride on thing above. Below Brad's parents got her a jewelry box that has fake lipstick, perfume and a little brush. She loved it.

My newest nephew Issac was born March 9th, the day before Lily's b-day so that weekend we too a trip to see him and my sister Jeni in WA.

The boys had fun w/their cousin Shyla

Lily got a few more b-day gifts in WA.

On the ride home. It was a fun trip, just really fast.

We stopped at the Boise Temple on the way home to let the kids get out of their seats for a little bit.

Watching Dad leave for work

For Christmas Brad surprised me w/tickets to spend a week in CT with my sister Wendy and her family. About 2 hrs before catching the shuttle to Sandy, UT I cut the palm of my hand open and had to go to Community care to get 5 stitches. We barely made it to the shuttle. My hand was so sore by the time we met Brad's sister Steph in Sandy. We spent the night at her house and she drove us to the airport. We took a 3 hr flight to Chicago, had a 3 hr layover, and took another 3 hr flight to CT. It was a long day but Lily did really well, and so did I considering I only had one useful hand w/baby, bag and stroller! Wendy picked us up and we had an hr ride to her house. Our total traveling time 13 hr so far. The next day we went to the Beach! It is about an hr from Wendy's but we had fun! The boys, David and Benjamin threw rocks in the water, found sea weed which took a swim too and chased birds. Lily was content to play in the sand. 15hrs

The next day we went to NY and hr away from Wendy's. First we went to Battery park where we could see the Statue of Liberty. I thought I added a pic here, ops. It was really cold and since we had our 3 little ones we had to speed through things a bit. We went to the Brooklyn bridge next, it was so big! We went to Rice to riches next and grabbed some rice pudding, we got raspberry statement and chocolate hazelnut bear hug. The place only sells rice pudding and you pick what kind you want, like going out for ice cream. It was SO good! 17 hrs. The next day we stayed close to Wendy's to give the kids a break from the car and being drug around. We took a trip to the dollar store and went out for ice cream (just Wendy and me) Thanks Sterling for staying w/the kids. I almost forgot! We went to Stew Lenards that day which is a dairy/bakery I don't really know how to describe it but it was fun! And we ate a lot of yummy samples and watched different puppets(?) sing. There was Chiquita Banana, Twinky Jones, singing milk, butter and chickens there was something singing around every corner. Wish I would have added a video of one here!

The next day we went to NY again! We went to the American Museum of Natural History. It was so BIG, we could have spent at least a day in there! My favorite was the underwater portion. The pic above is real sea loins (stuffed) they were huge. I was wishing Ethan could have seen it, he loves marine life. Then we left all the kids with Sterling my brother in law and got on the subway. Sterling had Lily in a snuggli and the boys in their double stroller. I was really nervous walking away knowing we wouldn't see them for several hours and he had all 3 in NY by himself!

Waiting for the subway

We went to Time square and wandered into Toys R Us to find something for the boys. It was amazing in there! There were 3 floors and there was this huge carousel in the middle of the store you could ride. I saw a man and his little girl riding with barbie in her barbie car on the carousel. There were so many fun things I found what I wanted and then as I wandered around probably with my mouth hanging open I almost walked out w/out paying for my things! It was a lot of fun! We hurried to the M&M store and took some fun pictures and then ran through time square back to watch a Broadway show, Mary Poppins. The dancing and singing was great! My favorite part was at the very end when she flys up and over the audience there was glitter coming down from the ceiling and as she gets to the top the lights dim and it really looks like she disappeared. Magic.

After the show we grabbed a slice of pizza to eat on our way to find Sterling and the kids. It was now 5:15! We got off the subway just as he called to say., "take the next stop down. " So again we were running! We found them by Central park, ate our pizza and then went for a walk in central park. Sterling did great w/the kids of course, thanks Sterling for the wonderful day w/Wendy w/out the kids! They had played at the park and gone to a church to play in the nursery.

Central park was beautiful even in the transition between winter and spring.

Wendy and I in Central park. What a great day! 19 hrs

Anything Lily finds that looks like it could be worn as a "pree" pretty necklace, gets worn as a necklace. The next day I packed, we went back to Stew Lenards and bought oreo cupcakes and recese cupcakes and then Wendy drove me the the airport. It was really hard saying goodbye, we had so much fun! 6 hrs of flying, to Stephs to spend the night and back to the shuttle in the morning and another 4 hrs home. 32hrs. Lily is an amazing traveler!! Extra thanks to Brad for the tickets and being willing to take care of things at home while I was gone and for Diane for watching the boys all week! Thanks!!!!!!

Brad's sister Candace got married a couple of days after Lily and I got back for CT. We had to dress up the night before the reception to get pics so our family could be Photoshoped into the group shots because Brad left for Boston for a conference right after the wedding and wasn't there for the reception. We got some cute pics on our camera while the photographer was setting up.

This is the tee Brad brought back form Boston that says, I get snappy without my nappy! It has a lobster on it that looks like he could use a nap. Perfect shirt for Lily. (:

Right after Brad got home from Boston he had his first of 3 triathlons, this one was in UT and Lily and I weren't feeling very good, and didn't feeling like traveling anywhere. So, Brad took the boys. Brad's sister Steph who lives in UT w/her husband Dan did a relay during the same raceas Brad. Dan watched the boys and took pics. Thanks for taking pics for us Dan!

Lily wasn't as interested in coloring eggs as she was in eating them

The boys had a lot of fun dyeing eggs and getting colorful fingers

I came in the living room and found Lily trying to climb onto the window using the preschool box!

Eddie was sure the Easter bunny would bring him a white chocolate hollow bunny...and he did!

Ethan holding up candy from his Easter basket

Lily wearing her boa eating her chocolate bunny

Easter outfits, ready for church

Ethan and Brad played 2 duets in monster concert. They have 12 pianos (I think) and 2 people playing a duet at each piano, and everyone is playing the same song. They start w/begginers and move up to advanced. It was really neat, one group had 3 people at each piano. Brad's mom is Ethan"s teacher so she played at the concert filling in on pianos where they needed an extra person. Ethan played Lil' Liza Jane, and Yankee Doodle. Great Job guys!

Lily loves her brothers, and her necklaces.

Lily experimenting w/strawberries.

From pumpkins to Christmas trees

2010-12-30T20:40:00.000-08:00

A lot has happened since I updated my blog!
Peek a boo!
Ethan's b-day is Oct 28th, so we celebrated it the following weekend which was Halloween weekend. He had a Star Wars party w/his friends. They all brought their light sabers and fought Darth Vader for the cup cakes. I don't know if Brad really thought this idea through all the way Darth Vader was no match for 7 screaming Jedi. Once Darth Vader was defeated and everyone stopped attacking, Brayden (on the left w/the blue light saber) shouted, "Wait! He's still breathing!" Poor Brad was about beat to death.

One of the guys Brad works w/said he would take Ethan for a ride in his Corvette for Ethan's b-day. Ethan loves cars about as much as he loves Star Wars, so he was VERY excited!
Eddie at his preschool costume parade, he's the pirate 3rd from the right
Everyone was excited when we dusted off the walker and brought it up from the basement!

Ethan on his 1st day of kindergarten.Ethan has lost 2 teeth. The dentist pulled the 1st, and much to my surprise and joy his teacher pulled the 2nd.
Brad and Eddie were playing hind and seek. I bet you'll never find that clever little guy in this photo!
Brad's mom brought over her costume box, the kids had a lot of fun finding things to wear

Happy Halloween!
Pumpkin patch

Mommy's little pumpkin
Ethan wanted a cat pumpkin
Eddie wanted a happy pumpkin w/ 13 teeth!
Lily found her tongue

For Ethan's b-day we bought him tickets to go see the Play Willy Wonka and the Chocolate factory. He LOVED it! This is after the play with Mr. Wonka.

Eddie played Bulldozer on the carpet w/his head at nursery. It has been several weeks and that spot still hasn't completely gone away
One night after dinner we were some having some leftover pineapple sorbet from Ethan's b-day and I decided to make mine into a snowman w/some chocolate chips. The boys thought that was so funny. However, chocolate and pineapple aren't a very tasty mix
Ethan had made this snowman all by himself!

Brad's sister Steph and her husband Dan came to visit. Aunt Steph gave her some cute hair doos
Decorating the tree

This pic makes me laugh. I let her taste a little bit of candy cane, she really liked it. She is "talking" very loudly in this pic. I wish I knew what she was thinking, maybe, "I love this tasty thing!"
Master Lily found this light saber unattended
Hot chocolate after playing in the snow makes us happy and giggly
Ethan and his candy house. I think Eddie only had one piece of candy on his house, and then he got down and ran away.
My sister Jeni ( baby Isaac to be), my niece Shyla, my mom and step-dad came for the weekend from WA. I loved spending time w/them! We had a lot of fun.
My mom made these quilts for the boys for x-mas. They are really awesome, the boys LOVED them. Thanks mom, you're amazing!
The boys wanted Lily to have a light saber fight w/them
Ethan likes to pick Lily up and spin her around, Lily loves it. It stresses me out a bit.
We were asked to babysit Ethan's kindergarten class pets Bianca & Clarisse for the x-mas break. As you can see someone was very happy about this.
LILY ON THE MOVE!
Happy, busy, happy, busy
Silly brothers make her Super happy!Going, going, going

I don't even know what to say about this other than I'm glad he knows how to dress himself.
Happy Lily at Brad's parents x-mas party. Her pig tails were a lot perkier that morning.
We took the kids to see the live Nativity. After they wanted their pic w/the wise man and his llama named Chewbacca.
Christmas Eve!
Santa brought the boys Jedi robes. Ethan has hardly taken his off since x-mas morning. Santa's elfs stayed up until 4:45am to get them done before grandma elf had to go back to WA the next morning. Thanks Sharon, mom and Jeni for your help they were the highlight of Christmas!
Lily pushing the toast into the toaster on the little kitchen set my mom bought her. She loved it! Thanks mom and Dick!
Brad's parents bought the kids these church outfits for Christmas. After church we stopped by their house so they could see the the kids in them. Thanks Greg and Diane, so cute!

Hope you all have a happy New Year!

This video is of Lily doing what we call her dolphin kicks, she does this all the time and it makes us laugh.

michellec0424@hotmail.com

2010-09-24T15:03:00.001-07:00

Click here to view these pictures larger

Summer fun

2010-09-09T14:44:00.000-07:00

We took a trip to WA to spend time with my family. We had a lot of fun! This is Brad and the boys after a water fight at my mom's, I think Brad had the most fun.

WATER FIGHT!

Eddie is trying to get some water to throw on his dad

We also had a silly string fight at my mom's, the boys loved it.

Lily had her first biter biscuit at my mom's, she loved it and got really messy!

Eddie, Benjamin, David, Ethan& Lily and Shyla. We LOVE cousins! This is the best pic we had getting them all in the same place at the same time long enough to snap a couple of pics before someone ran away.

Cute little Benjamin in his shades and cool car

Bonnie and John came to see us while we were at Grandmas, it was so good to see them again

We all went out to eat together at a restaurant my dad occasionally clowns at. It was fun for the kids to see Grandpa all dressed up making balloon "things"

Grandpa and Eddie having dessert together. (For those of you who don't know my grandpa this is who we named Eddie after)

Silly Grandpa making balloon swords

Dad, Jeni & Shyla, Grandma Kauer & Lily, Grandpa, Wendy, Benjamin, Starling & David. My boys were running wild in the play area

We went to the playground of dreams. Eddie played in the water with David, Benjamin and Grandpa Larry

Eddie was cold after about 10 minutes of playing in the water

Eddie, David and Benjamin having a great time in the water, for a few minutes.

Grandpa Larry (my dad) and Lily wearing his hat. We took the kids to the mall to play

Ethan and Benjamin

Eddie and Shyla

Ethan fell asleep on this tiger, on top of the picnic table the day after his first sleep over w/his cousin Dante. He was SO tired. They stayed up until midnight and were up at 6:30!

Wendy, me, mom and Jeni

Wendy and her twins David and Benjamin from CT, Jeni and Shyla, Mom, me and my kids.

Lily's 1st swing ride, she wasn't impressed

Grandma and Grandpa made this awesome swing set. When we got back to ID Ethan said, "Do you think we could trade Grandma Terri swing sets?"

Out to lunch w/mom and two of my sisters Wendy and Jeni

Story time! I started reading Eddie and book and by the end of the first page I had 3 more listeners, not including Grandpa.

My mom was great about helping me with the kids when Brad was in Vancouver WA for a work conference for a couple of days during our trip. Thanks mom, you were a great sanity saver at the end of the day.

Eddie and his cousins having lunch. They had a great time together all week. It was so nice for him to have some buddies to play with. Can't wait to play again next summer, wish CT wasn't so far so we could play moreWendy and I went to see our little brother Scott, he is not so little anymore! I can't believe how much he has grown! It was great to see him. Many of you have never met my brother Scott. His lives in a group home because he is severely autistic. Autism can be very very difficult to manage, especially being his size and strength.

Scott loves music and played us a tidbit of any song we requested on one of his many keyboards. Including "Michelle" by the Beatles and "Wendy" for Wendy and I. We played head solders knees and toes. He showed us how all his toys worked and showed us how he walked to get his diploma at graduation. He is still the same little boy inside that I remember.

Aunt Jeni and Lily w/her 1st ponytail! So cute!

Most nights my mom helped me bath Lily in the sink. My mom doesn't have a bath tub in her house but she does have a nice big sink. She helped hold Lily down, because she wanted to stand the entire bath. (:

Ethan had a great time w/Dante, he is my step sister Lisa's son. They are the oldest boys cousins. It was so nice for Ethan to have someone close to his age to play with.

Lily's Great Grandma Kauer making her giggle

Great grandpa and Lily. It was so great to see my Grandparents, I miss them. I'm glad they finally got to meet Lily.

I loved our trip to WA, I loved being w/my family and I loved watching the cousins play. I look forward to summer every year for this trip.

Right before leaving for WA I turned on the wrong burner to cook dinner, went to get Lily and this is what I found along w/tons of smoke. It was very scary! I put Lily in her bouncy seat in the back and turned off the burner and threw water on it and opened all the doors and windows. The smoke burned my throat and skin and gave me a head ache in just the few minutes I was in the house. Brad came home to a smoky house, and found us in the back yard. The house smelled so bad! We decided to pick up some chinese and have a picnic in the backyard. The boys thought it was fun.

Me and Lil, I love having a little girl!

Happy Lily

Lily rolling over! Yeah Lily!

Brad took the boys to his family reunion. I didn't go because I had family in town but I heard they had a lot of fun in this hammock and w/their Aunt Steph below.

Our wild haired baby after her bath. HAPPY!

My dad and neice Shyla petting the goat at the zoo

Lily enjoying the Zoo

My sister Jeni and my neice Shyla drove from WA for a visit. We went to the zoo w/them and Jared, Nikki, Allie, and my dad. We all had a great weekend together. I especiallyenjoyed watching the cousins play.

The Blue Angels came to Idaho Falls. The boys went w/Brad and his parents the the air show. We live pretty close to the airport to we hear them practicing all week. The Boys loved it. This is Eddie working a huge gun

A piolt lifting Ethan up to see the inside jet

My Grandma and Grandpa Gale came for a visit from WA. My dad later convinced Grandpa to stay for a week and help w/the basement remodel. My grandpa is still a great carpenter at 89, I was very impressed. It was fun to have him and dad stay for a whole week.

Lily and her Great Grandpa Gale

Dad, Grandpa and Brad working on our Basement. We did A LOT in a week! We also put new tile in the laundry room and bathroom.

The finished basement, so much better! Thanks Dad and Grandpa for everything!

These are the before pics of our gloomy basement. Gross tile, duct taped green carpet, ugly panneling and florecent lights.

We took the boys to the temple visitor center to see some amazing pics that were taken from the Hubble telescope. This was taken on the temple grounds afterwards

Ethan doing Gymnastics. He loved it and really imporved this summer

Ethan doing a front flip into the block pit

Eddie in swimming lessons. He improved so much this summer. I think his orange goggles helped w/his bravery

Brad climbing Table Rock w/the scouts. This was the practice hike for climbing the the Grand Teton the next month. The you can see it behind him.

Happy little Lily

Eddie sitting in his chair in the shade in the backyard.

This is a dress, hat and booties crocheted by Grandma Carren! Thanks Grandma, amazing!

Eddie, Ethan and Allie playing in the pool after Crators of the Moon

Riding home after Crator of the Moon. That hairy orange thing is his favorite stuffed orangatange that he sleeps with "Harry"

We went to Crators of the Moon w/ my brother Jared, his wife Nikki and their little girl Allie. We had a great day, but I can honestly say this was an experience I will never forget! We got caught in a terrible rain and hail storm. Crators of the moon is flat, just lava covered ground. I know there are trees in the back ground of this pic, but on the trails there is nothing for cover. When we came out of the cave and started back to the cars it started pouring and then hailing. Nikki and I ran w/our babies as fast as we could turned sideways to protect them. As a mother I have not had an experience like that when I have felt so desperate to protect my children. Lily and Allie were crying and screaming which didn't help the panicked feelings. I have never been in a storm like that and not been able to get cover. You are probably thinking, why didn't you climb back into the cave? I thought of that, but Nikki and I thought we could make it back to the van before the storm got too bad, and when it started pouring and hailing we we inbetween the van and the caves. I also didn't want to be stuck in the caves w/a wet screaming baby while we waited out the storm, since we didn't know how long it would last. In the moment it seemed to last forever. Knowing now that it only lasted 5min of intense hail/rain I would have definately waited in the caves. Nikki and I had welts on our arms and legs. It was very painful and extremely intense. Above is a pic of after the storm. Luckily we had dry clothes and blankets for the kids.

Ethan LOVED every minute of the cave

Eddie was very nervous about exploring caves. At first he wanted to sit w/ mom and sleeping Lily and watch everyone else go. When he finally decided to go w/his dad he came back out of the cave w/a big smile on his face and
proudly said, "That wasn't so bad!"

What an adverture!

Grandma Diane holding our sweet Lily on the 4th of July. Thanks for the cute outfit Grandma!

Eddie hiding in an empty cupboard

Lily sleeping through the fireworks

We spent the 4th going to the parade w/Brad's family. The boys loved getting lots of candy. Then we went to Brad's parents for a BBQ. Later that day Jared, Nikki and Allie came and we had dinner, set off some fire works and then went to the fire works show down by the river. It was such a great day. I'm so greatful we got to have some fun times together this summer before they moved to OK. I miss you guys!

The boys doing sparklers. Probably not the best idea for Eddie to be doing that in his batman cape.

Our brave boys watching their dad light fireworks, from a safe distance.

Lily and me at the parade. Crazy Idaho, the only place I've had to wear a sweater on the 4th of July. It was so cold that morning!

The boys got a gift card for Toys R Us from our relator after we bought the house. They spent it on light sabers that light up, make noise and even spring out when they turn them on. They were very excited! Brad turned on Star Wars music and Eddie put on his Batman cape and a Darth Vader mask our old neighbor gave us. They were both very very happy that day!

Almost 4 months

2010-06-30T20:50:00.000-07:00

First, I need to say my blog has not been cooperating, or I'm doing something wrong. Before attaching each pic I rotate it the way I want it on the blog and then I attach it. Once I attach it it will rotate back the way it was before. If anyone has any advice about how to fix this problem I would really like that. But until I figure it out this is how it will be. Sorry for pictures every which way. (:
The past 3 months have been so Busy! Besides having a new baby, We took a quick trip to UT for Brad's triathlon, Stephanie's recital (Brad's sister) and to see Grandma Della and Grandpa Bob. Then we sold and moved out of our house and into Brad's parents for 5 weeks until we could move into our new house. We moved in June 12th and are still trying to get everything set up and put together. We will get pics when we are all done putting away our mess. We LOVE having a bigger house and quiet neighbors w/kids to play with. We have room to move around w/out stepping on anyone or thing. It has been a huge job to try to unpack everything w/my busy boys and little Lily but we are almost done. Jared and Nikki have been a huge help and we hope to return the favor when they move in a few weeks to OK. Thanks guys!
We also took a quick trip to Boise While Brad went to his conference my mom and Dick met me and the kids and we spent a couple of days swimming, going to the zoo and discovery center and having a great time. (Boise is about half way between Idaho Falls and Kennewick where my mom and step dad Dick live, it was a great place to meet.)
Our little Lily is growing like a weed, or should I say flower. (: She will be 4 months on Saturday! Already! She is a sweet, happy and easy going girl which is such a blessing given all that has been going on in her short life. She is smiley and giggly and the boys love to making her smile.
Ethan is still in Gymnastics and starts swimming lessons w/Eddie next week. He is loving all the kids to play w/ at our new house. Eddie has been taking swimming lessons although he was scared to death at first he is doing better and overall adjusting to all these new changes really well.
Hope you enjoy the pics

A couple of weeks after Lily was born, when we were trying to sell our house I looked out the window to see what they were up to and found them throwing mud at the house, and each other. I didn't know whether to be frustrated w/them or just to laugh. It was a big mess to clean up. I made them stay out side until Lily went to sleep and then hosed them and their clothes off and put them in the tub. I thought I would never get the mud out of Eddies hair and ears.

Brad trained for and participated in his first triathlon in UT in April. Brad has accomplished a lot of great things in our 7 yrs of marriage, but watching him accomplish this was one of the greatest things I have seen him do. I was so proud of him knowing how hard he had worked for it, it almost made me cry as I cheered him on and I'm not one to cry easily. He is wanting to do another one soon, yeah Brad! He hates this pic by the way, but I wanted to put it on anyway

This is a pic of Grandma Della holding Lily after Brad's race

Lily taking a snooze on the couch

Lily Laughing

Whenever I make a squeaky kissing sound Lily makes this face. I was trying different noises to make her smile and I think this one startled her. Brad and I laughed and got the camera ready and tried again to see if we could get the same reaction and we did. (;

Eddie wanted a light saber cake, I got this idea off the Internet and he loved it.

We celebrated Eddie's 3rd b-day early since we were moving into our new house the day before his b-day. We had a little party w/his friends, one w/Brad's family and then one a week later w/my family that I have in town. He was pretty happy about having so much b-day.

He got a slip n' slide for his b-day and wanted to try it out SO bad. We told him we needed to wait until we moved in. It was cold and cloudy but they wanted to do it anyways so we set it up. They were so cold it didn't last long. (:

This is a pic of Ethan in a turtle costume at the zoo in Boise

This is a pic of Eddie at the zoo in Boise w/some kind of animal ears

I don't know if Eddie is choking or hugging the penguin

The loved the carousel at the zoo, thanks grandma Terri!

Happy Lily already for her first swim! I dipped her toes in the water as I handed her to Brad who was in the pool. She screamed and started to cry so I took her back and that was the end of that.

We went to the discovery center in Boise, which is full of science exhibits. Everyone had a great time. Ethan especially loved this little shopping center they had. He spent most of his time filling his cart , checking out his groceries and then putting it back again. Eddie liked a lot of different things.

This was a lift in the discovery center they could sit in and use the rope to pull themselves upward.

We also went to Chuck E Cheese's while in Boise. The boys love to go there. Here is a pic of Lily wearing her Chuck E Cheese sticker on her bib

Brad and Eddie driving a race car

This is a skirt Aunt Wendy made and mailed for Lily. Thanks Aunt Wendy I love my cute new skirt!

Catching up

2010-04-14T09:16:00.000-07:00

A lot has happened since I last Blogged in Jan! Above is Ethan and Eddie making towers for their marbles to run through. Below is a pic of the boys in their 3D glasses ready for a movie night we had. We bought a 15 min 3D DVD w/the glasses and the boys were so excited about it.

The boys made a small sledding hill in the front yard and went sledding everyday for about a week until they were tired of it. Below is Eddie w/ his saucer. This pic was taken the end of Jan. But we have had snow since then, the last snow was Easter weekend.

Left is Brad sledding w/the boys. The boys, Brad and Brad's family went snowmobiling. Below is a pic of Greg taking the boys for a ride.

Aunt Lindsay and Eddie

Ethan on his sled being pulled by the snowmobile

Left is Eddie in a snowmobile helmet and goggles.

Ethan playing Rock Band w/dad, Uncle Jason and Uncle Dan. He loved it and thought he was pretty big stuff hanging out with the big guys.

The boys doing exercises

This is me kissing our sweet Lily Marie who was born March 10th. This was taken right after she arrived.

Her delivery was a little rough, so she arrived a little bruised up

Lily is a really sweet baby. She is a good sleeper and a good eater. If she gets upset she calms really easy. Having 3 kids has been a difficult adjustment in some ways, we are just so blessed that she is such a good baby.

Tired and ready to go home from the hospital

Brad was a trooper and stayed all three nights at the hospital w/me on a small hard looking pull out chair/bed.

Lily in her car seat ready to go home for the first time

Grandma and Grandpa and Dad took the boys to Bear world to see the baby bears

Grandma and Grandpa Carpenter came for a week and a half to help. It was so, nice! Thanks mom and Dick! They also brought their Wii. Ethan LOVED it!

Ethan and Eddie have been great brothers to Lily.

Grandpa and Grandma Carpenter hanging out w/the kids

Ethan made mustashes for everyone and wanted us to wear them. Dad was a great sport about it.

Lily after an unhappy bath

Ethan and his egg hunt find

The Easter Bunny brought the boys some ball guns and some other things. Ethan was very excited about finding the eggs and was very fast. Eddie didn't really care about finding eggs. He found one and then said, "now I will put it back." Silly kid. Ethan tried to encourage him but he was more interested in his gun and candy.

The boys in their new Easter outfits.

Dad and Carren came in town for Easter weekend. They brought some cute things for Lily and some movies and a bubble launcher for the boys. It snowed most of the weekend and so everyone stayed inside most of the time. It was nice to have them visit. Easter morning was Lily's blessing, Diane and Candace (Brad's mom and sister) made the blessing dress, it was so pretty! Lily did really well through the blessing and pics afterward. We decided to have the blessing at home since that is when my dad could come and that Sunday was conference weekend so we didn't go to church. Brad's parents, siblings and their spouses, his Grandma, and uncle Ken and his family all came. The bishop, dad and Carren, Jared's family, and Darrick's family also came. We have never had so many people in our little house! The blessing was beautiful and so was Lily.

Lily in her blessing dress

Lily in her blessing dress on Eatser.

Max and Lily after Lily's Blessing. Max was born a couple of weeks after Lily.

Welcome home from work dad, we would all like some attention now please!

Uncle Dan and Aunt Steph came and took the boys sledding, they had a blast.

Ethan seldding down the hill

Uncle Dan and the boys

Eddie and Aunt Steph

Some more news since Jan, we decided to sell our house. The last few weeks I was pregnant we packed up what we wouldn't be using for a couple of months and put it in a storage unit to clean things out. We cleaned and srubbed the house hired our neighbor to do some painting and put it on the market the first week in April . 9 days later it sold! We are making an offer on a house, but it is a short sale so it will take some time.

Ethan has started a gymnastics class last week and loves it.

2010-03-11T09:07:00.000-08:00

Here are some photos of Lily. She was born March 10 at about 9:20 a.m. 6 pounds 3 oz. and 19 inches long. She's healthy and beautiful.

Christmas day fun!

2009-12-30T10:34:00.000-08:00

Ethan and his preschool friends. They preformed the nativity play for a nursing home and later for their parents. Ethan was the the Shepard this year. I don't know why I don't have a picture of them in their outfits, probably because I was busy setting up, getting them dressed and narrating the play! (: I know Brad took a video when he watched it. Oh, well. Overall, I think it went well. We received donations from friends and family at their play which they used to each buy a toy for toys for tots. It was lot easier for Ethan to donate the toy this year having done this same thing last year. I think he understood a lot more this year why we were giving the toys away and was happy to do it.

Christmas this year was a lot of fun. The boys loved their gifts, we stayed home in our PJs all day and just enjoyed being together. Jared Nikki and Allie came and we had dinner together. It was a really great day.

Mailing letters to Santa. Thank goodness they received a letter back stamped w/a "nice"check mark stamped on the front. (:

Ethan on Santa's lap, he acted really shy which is unusual for Ethan who is never shy.

Eddie sitting on Santa's lap, I don't think Eddie has ever been afraid of Santa. Even when he was little and afraid of family he didn't see very often. Silly kid. (:

Ethan with his shark attack shark

Eddie playing w/some of his presents

Ethan finding some fun things in his stocking

Eddie found gum in his stocking, he LOVES gum and most of it was gone that day.

Ethan unwrapping

Eddie unwrapping

Grandma Terri made the boys an awesome dino tepee and sleeping mats to go inside. The boys spent most of the day and all of the night in them. Thanks Grandma it is really amazing!

Peek a boo!

After everything had been opened it looked like a wrapping paper tornado had blown through the living room! There is a full pic of the Tepee in the back ground.

Grandma Carren made us all matching hats, thanks grandma!

The spent the night in their tent Christmas night, I thought they would never fall asleep in there!

Merry Christmas!

2009-12-23T19:46:00.000-08:00

MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!
This year has been a great one! A few highlights were our trip to WA in August to spend time w/all of my family and my new nieces and nephews. Our trip to McCall for T-day. Ethan learned to read this year, were are so proud of him! Eddie finished potty training this year! Double yeah! We found out we were expecting a baby girl in March and are really excited, especially that the pregnancy has gone so well. We have had safety and good health most of the year, (except Brad's bike crash and having my gall bladder removed).
Overall we have been and continue to be so blessed.
We think of you often and hope you are all doing well!

We had a 3D ultra sound on the 22nd, we were really excited because we didn't get to do this w/our boys. We had seen advertisement pictures and they were amazing, but we still didn't know exactly what to expect. It was pretty neat but of course not as amazing as the advertised pictures. They told me to eat a big meal 1 hour before and drink OJ 1/2 hour before so she would be wide awake. I did this, (which was MUCH better than drinking a quart of water the hour before like I had to for my 20 wk ultra sounds) but still, she seemed to sleep away in there. She hardly moved except her mouth and her hands a little bit. It still was neat to see her and watch her small movements, but I wish some of the pictures were a little less distorted.

She looks so squished in there!

This was my favorite picture, it looks like she has a cute little nose!

She opened and closed her mouth a few times, this is a video of her doing that. It looks like she is tasting something.

The camera distorted images as they moved the machine and as she moved. This clip shows how the same shot makes her look so different as she shifts her position. The person doing the ultra sound said the best shots are taken when there is a lot of fluid in the area, like in front of her face.

She rubbed her eye a lot, this is a little clip of her doing that.

November adventures

2009-12-02T15:01:00.000-08:00

We took a trip to Salt Lake to see Aunt Stephanie get married. Above is a pic of the boys waiting to see her w/Uncle Jason

Aunt Stephanie giving boys the boys a big hug, she was beautiful!

Ethan doesn't take naps anymore but he was so worn out and board he did. Unfortunately while sleeping in his clothes for the reception his gum fell out and stuck to his new white shirt. Oh well. (:

There was a ton of traffic in Salt Lake, everyone was tired and worn out. Even Aunt Candace, Aunt Lindsay and Uncle Jason took naps.

Our 2 handsome boys at the reception, it took several tries to get them to look at the same time, with their eyes open

Eddie attached himself to grandma that weekend. They look great.

Ethan Keira and Eddie helping w/Aunt Stephie's dress

Swimming was the boys favorite part of our trip aside from meeting Teresa (one of my best friends from high school) and her kids at an indoor play land. I can't remember the name but it was a lot like Chuck e cheeses with rides and fun stuff to wear the kids out.

We took a trip to McCall and spent T-day w/Jeni, Jeremy and Shyla at a time share. It was a lot of fun and very relaxing. We took the boys swimming almost everyday at the gym. Brad played racket ball, ping pong and snorkeled in the pool w/Ethan. Above is a pic of us making candy houses, yum.

Ethan worked really hard on his house

Eddie is really concentrating on his house. Most of the candy didn't make it that far

Getting a little practice for his sister in a few months

The boys LOVED Shyla, her toys and especially watching her blow raspberries

We slept upstairs in a loft, it was really high and made me a little nervous sometimes but thankfully nobody slipped or fell. The boys thought it was really fun.

Eddie showing Ethan a little brotherly love

Even though it was not wanted

There were 3 foxes that would come around at night looking for meat and eggs. The boys were so excited the first night when one came and sat out side of the sliding glass door and waited there until we opened the door with something to feed it. They were beautiful!

Ethan thought since the fox was so close it would be ok to touch it! But mom panicked.

We had a movie night our last night in McCall and watched Wall-e, the boys loved it.

We bought a tree from a tree lot for the first time this year, usually we cut one down. The boys have decorated and decorated it many times in the last couple of days. Thank goodness for non-breakable ornaments!

2009-12-02T11:17:00.000-08:00

Before the snow came Ethan spent most of the summer and fall finding bugs. This was the last grasshopper he found. Ruby. He wanted to keep it in a jar in his room, but after have lost several grasshoppers in his room already mom said this one had to stay outside. but he wanted a picture of it.
The boys working to clean up the leaves

Helping mom rake leaves

Making and eating Halloween cookies is always a treat

For Preschool we went to the pumpkin patch. They got to ride the train, run through the corn maze, pick a pumpkin and eat a cookie. The boys LOVED it!

Ethan in the train with his friends

Eddie was SO excited for the train

Ethan in the corn maze

Eddie running through the corn maze

Eddie, Ethan and some of Ethan's preschool friends and their siblings

Ethan picking his pumpkin

Eddie riding in the pumpkin wagon

Grandpa Greg came over bringing treats, and read them a few stories before bed. They love spending time with their grandpas and grandmas.

I tried to get a pic of Eddie in his costume but he ran an hid under the table, he thought he was so clever.

Surprise! Got you!

Here is Eddie making his not so sneaky escape

Here is a good pic of Eddie's full Dragon costume. He kept saying,"This is SO Cool mom!" and "The tail is so pretty!"

Eddie cleaned a little of his pumpkin out, mom got to do the rest.

This was the first year Ethan would stick his hand in the pumpkin and clean it out by himself! Yeah Ethan!

Eddie wanted a sad/scary pumpkin

Ethan wanted a vampire pumpkin, thanks dad for your help. Look at those sharp teeth!

Ethan turned 5 Oct 28th, sometimes I can't believe he is that old already. He was so proud of himself for being able to blow up balloons for the first time.

We had a b-day party for Ethan on Halloween morning. I think they all had a great time playing the games, playing w/Ethan's gifts and eating candy from their goodie bags.
This is a pic of Ethan opening his gifts from his friends.
Ethan was a vampire for Halloween. This was the first time we have ever done face paints and hair color. He was SO excited about it. I have a great picture of him but will have to post it next blog because I cannot get it to attach right now.

We babysat Allie for a couple of hours and the boys loved it! I think poor Allie was a little overwhelmed but enjoyed watching them run around and try to entertain her.

Bear Lake

2009-10-07T14:28:00.000-07:00

This is finally my last post to catch up on our summer!

I have been wanting to go to Bear Lake for a long time but our summers fly by so fast we never go. So we decided that we would schedule a weekend in and actually go this year and it was a lot of fun. The lake was beautiful and the boys had a blast in the sand and water despite some of the not so fun things that happened.
When we arrived Friday evening we made dinner and set up camp. There were no trees in our camp site and it was REALLY hot! Then we headed down to the beach. Having never been there we didn't know what to expect so we borrowed some life jackets just in case. As Brad and I were hauling everything down to the beach Ethan ran right into the water and started swimming. I was glad then that he was wearing a life jacket not knowing how deep it was or I would have probably had a heart attack. As we learned a few moments later Bear lake does not get deep for a long ways out. Ethan has no fear when it comes to anything. Eddie however, stood on the beach and panicked as he watched his brother diving and splashing. When we got back to camp and got the boys ready for bed we discovered I had forgotten the firewood. Ethan wanted to roast marshmallows really bad and was determined we were going to have a fire. He ran all over our camp in his PJs gathering twigs. by the time we had everything ready for bed he had gathered enough to make a very small fire. Someone had left some briquettes in the fire pit so we made a small fire over that and each had a few marshmallows. Ethan was so proud. That night it took a long time to get our excited boys asleep. The campers next to us kept me up until 3:30am! Laughing, drinking and being really obnoxious. I was exhausted! The next morning we discovered our plans for breakfast were not going to work. ): So, we got back in the truck and drove 45min to the closest restaurant. By the time we got back to camp we only had an hour until check out time. So we loaded everything up. Ethan waiting very patiently to go to the Beach and this time we sat in the back of the truck and drove everything down to the beach. We played for several more hours. The boys loved the rubber raft. Brad would walk it out a long ways and then climb in and paddle it around. It was funny to watch because way out was still only knee or waist deep. Eddie was happy to stay close to shore or in the boat. Ethan had a fabulous trying to tackle Brad and then being thrown through the air back into the water. When we finally called it a day the boys were exhausted, so were we. We also noticed Brad had lost his wedding ring some where in the lake while he was throwing Ethan. The boys loved the trip, and have asked several times, "When are we going back to Bear Lake?" We plan to go back next year, but having been there we will be better prepared, and hopefully have a smoother trip.

The picture above is of me and the boys riding in the back of the truck down to the beach. They were so excited!

Below Eddie is eating his s'more.

Ethan cooking marshmallows

Eddie jumping on the air mattress while we were trying to get things ready for bed.

Ethan gathering sticks

Cautious Eddie digging on the beach

Ethan after his first swim. "I'm freezing mom!" Duncan (our miniature poodle) was freezing too.

The life jacket was a wee bit big. (:

Brad pulling the boy out for a ride

This is about all of Ethan we saw most of the time we were at the beach. He loved it.

Brad laughing at crazy Ethan, trying to convince Eddie to get in the water.

Eddie and I hung out on the beach most of the time. The two dots you see in the back ground is where Ethan and Brad hung out most of the time. It is a long ways out but only about waist deep.

Happy Campers?

2009-10-02T19:48:00.000-07:00

We were invited to camping with some of our friends. While Brad was at work I loaded up the truck with all of our camping supplies. 10 minutes before we were about to leave to pick up Brad from work, it started to downpour. I quickly ran to the shed to get a tarp and tucked it around the camping gear. What I did not think about was that all of the rain would run right off the tarp, down into the truck, and soak our camping gear. Because our friends were already at the camp site ahead of us in an area with no cell phone service, we were unableto get ahold of them. We didn't want to just not show up since they were expecting us. But we weren't sure if we wanted to go either. We decided to go up, eat dinner together, and hope the rain would stop. When we got up there we realized Brad didn't have a jacket and everything was soaked. EVERYTHING. I had packed a couple of blankets inside of the truck and our friends said they had some extra sleeping bags so we decided we would stay. We put up the tent in the rain, ate dinner, and Brad set up in the tent with Ethan and I set up in the truck with Eddie. It was a long long night for everyone. The next morning everyone was freezing. As the sun came out and we warmed up a little, we all took a walk before packing up. The area was really beautiful. We didn't get too far before the boys were tired, having had little sleep. We decided it was time to head home. Despit the cold, wet start, we were still glad we went.

Our trip to WA

2009-09-28T10:14:00.000-07:00

We took a trip to WA the 2nd week in Aug. We drove our van with our family and Jared's to Kennewick and stayed a couple of days at Mom and Dicks where Bethany was also staying. Then headed to Dash point where we met Wendy's family.
We camped at the beach for a couple of days sharing a tent with Wendy's family. The first day was rainy and cold. Eddie cried most of the time we were on the beach and wanted to be held because the sand was cold and scratchy. ):
Ethan loved it and spent his time gathering shells and pretty much anything he could find, including a small dead fish and part of a crab and begged to keep them even though they smelled terrible! Below is a picture of Ethan with a big find. And above is a shot we got of Eddie while he was happy for a few minutes.

The next day we decided to go to the Science center in Seattle since it was still raining. Everyone loved it. Below is a pic of Eddie. They had big dinos that made noise and moved. Just as I set him up for a picture the dino moved his head toward Eddie and he panicked!

Here is a pic of Brad playing in the play area with Ethan.

Below is a pic of me and one of my cute niece Eveline. (Bethany's baby)

Here is a pic of Grandma Terri playing w/Eddie in the water area.

Here is Eddie on a huge Caterpillar

Ethan loved the butterfly exhibit. The rainbow beads and necklace you will see him wearing in most pictures belongs to Eveline. Silly kid.

There were star fish, hermit crabs and other sea creatures you could pet. Eddie would not touch anything except the star fish once after he saw Ethan do it.

Ethan touched about everything!

Family pic

Bethany and Eveline

Brad's stinky find.

Here is cold Eddie and Dad

Here is fussy Eddie and worn out mom

Happy twins! David and Benjamin loved the beach that day, especially David.

Ethan trying to get warm in a little puddle with his latest "Treasure" a clam

Ethan was so sad when I told him we could not keep the clam as a pet. I told him we could take it's pics to remember it by but that he needed to go back in the water.

Happy Ethan! We woke up and the sun was finally shining! He is standing on top of a very tall stump.

The second half of your trip we said good bye to mom and drove to Birch Bay and spent a few day with Dad and Carren, the Grandparents Mattie and some of Carren's family. Ethan loves having cousins he can run and play with. They had so much fun. Here is Grandma Kauer playing with David.

Grandma Gale holding sweet little Allie (Jared and Nikki's baby) There were plenty of babies to be held, we all loved it especially the grandmas and grandpas.

This is one of my favorite pics of Jeni and Jeremy's baby. Happy Shyla in her stroller ready for the beach!

Eddie had a difficult time most of the trip. He cried a lot and wanted me t hold him most of the time. I think it was mostly lack of sleep and mom holding all her nieces and nephews and he didn't like that. I was thankful when dad took him for a nice long bike ride. Eddie really enjoyed it too. Thanks dad!

I thought this was a cute pic of dad holding sleeping Eveline

Aunt Jeni helping Ethan roast a marshmallow.

Here is where we all congregated to eat and get warm by the fire

When we decided to go to Birch Bay we didn't know what to expect since none of us had been there. What we didn't expect was the beach to be covered in rocks! There were lots of shells and hermit crabs for the kids to find and collect. Here is a group of us wandering the beach. Almost everyone is holding a baby. (:

Ethan and Lilly finding baby hermit crabs.

Ethan and his bucket of "beach treasures"

"Can I keep ALL of them mom? Please?!"

Summer helped the kids paint and glue to make all kinds of things with the treasures they found on the beach. They loved it.

I finally was able to hold my nephews for the first time after camping with them and sharing a tent with them for several days and nights. But my happy moments holding them the last few days of the trip never lasted long. But at least they happened! I just love those cute little guys!

Ethan, Mattie and Eddie playing in the rocks on the beach.

Eddie enjoying the rocks

Eddie heading back to camp with his wagon full of "sand toys"

Here are my sisters and one of my brothers. Jared, Jeni, Bethany Wendy and me in a huge tree. I love my siblings they are my best friends. I am already thinking of our next trip together next Aug. I love you guys, you are the best!

Here we all are with our families. Brad, me, Eddie, Ethan. Bethany and Eveline. Jeni and Shyla. Sterling, Benjamin, Wendy and David. Jared Nikki and Allie. Wow our family has really grown in one year! Since last Aug we have 5 new babies and ours on the way in March!

Here are all the cousins. Benjamin, David attacking Eddie. Shyla. Eveline Ethan and Allie. It was really difficult to get them all in one place at the same time, and mostly happy. (:

Etah Mattie and Eddie. A happy little trio.

Happy Cramers!

Me and Brad

The last night we took the boys and Mattie to get some ice cream and met everyone down at the beach to watch the sun set. It was beautiful.

Here we are waiting for the sun to go down. Carren, Dad, Bethany and Eveline, Grandma and Grandpa Gale, Ethan and Eddie.

Here is Eddie with Great Grandpa Eddie sitting by the fire the last night.

After sleeping in a tent for 6 nights we were all ready to sleep in a real bed and take a nice long shower! Our little ones were so dirty by the end of each day. There were showers but they were not great.

Before heading home we met at Nikki's parents house (as presentable as possible after 7 days of camping) and had Allies baby blessing. We said our sad good byes for another year. Some of us a little more emotional than others. (:

Then we climbed back in the van with Jared's family and headed back to moms house in Kennewick. We stayed the night and drove the rest of the way in the morning. In all we put 2050 miles on the van. The boys and Allie did really well considering the time they spent in the car. not that they didn't have thier moments. Overall it was a great trip, it was good to be together and the boys loved it.

Finally a new post!

2009-09-25T10:36:00.001-07:00

I am so behind blogging I decided I will have to just do a little at a time to catch up!
Our summer flew by so fast, we have been so busy.
If you haven't heard we are expecting baby #3 March 3rd! We are all excitied, especially Ethan who is really hoping for a sister. We will find out Oct 12th if baby is a boy or a girl.
These are some pics of our tip to the fair. Above and below are pics of them enjoying their corn dogs. Eddie had katsup all over his face that he did not want wiped off!

We saw most of the animals. Eddie was scared of the pigs and kept saying, "Scary pig, scary pig!"

He also has a sheep baa right in his face, but thought that was funny.

The boys used their money to buy cups of feed at the petting zoo. The pig had just had piglets the day before and the pony had a baby a few weeks before they were so cute. Eddie loved feeding the goats.

We told the boys they could pick a ride or a game. Ethan has been wanting a pet of his own (besides our poodle Duncan) so when he saw he could win a goldfish decided that was way better than a ride. He had to throw 8 ping pong balls into cups, we told him it might be kind of difficult and if he didn't get one into the cups he wouldn't get a fish and not to cry. He said ok, threw the balls and didn't make it. The dread on his face was so sad but he didn't cry. The lady felt sorry for him and pretended he made it anyways and said, "OK! I'll go get your fish." She said she doesn't like to see sad kids. Ethan was so excited! We were excited for him. Eddie was too short for all the rides except the merry go round, he was sad he didn't get to ride the four wheeler ride but loved the cheeta

Before heading home we got them some cotton candy, they loved it. Eddie was such a mess! We had a lot of fun together. The boys were exausted and fell asleep on the way home. Brad and I we hapy about that too. (:

Fun in the Sun

2009-07-11T14:26:00.000-07:00

My first blog post was about our trip in May, so I decided to make this post a longer one to catch up June and July. June 13th Eddie turned 2. Ethan was SO excited about it and told everyone. He helped wrap presents and picked out balloons (they loved the balloons!)

I made Eddie a truck cake. The first thing he opened was a bubble airplane that makes bubbles come out the back while the propeller spins. Eddie was so fascinated with it he didn't want to open anything else. Grandma Diane and Grandpa Greg got him a bubble mower and he LOVES to "help daddy mow grass."

Aunt Stephanie was in town for a couple of weeks and the boys had so much fun with her. She made Ethan this vampire costume that he wanted to wear EVERYWHERE! This is him wearing it next to a clown at the circus. We went with Stephanie and Grandma Diane. Ethan loved the acrobats and spent the next couple of days doing tricks on the swing set.
Diane bought the boys these horns. The are really really loud. Brad conveniently went to Boise that weekend for a conference, but the neighbor and I endured them until the newness wore off. O:

Ethan doing some acrobat tricks.

Eddie trying to be like big brother.

Brad brought home this box from work, it is refrigerator size. Ethan colored it and has wanted to sleep in it every night for the last 2-3 weeks!

For the 4th of July Grandpa Larry and Grandma Carren and Orion came down and we had a lot of fun! This is Eddie at the parade.

This is Ethan and Orion trying to get warm after swimming.

This is Grandma and Eddie watching the fireworks.

And a few pics of the kids doing sparklers.

Ethan is on a t-ball team, the fire dragons. He has really improved from the first game. It's funny watching the little kids in the outfield sitting in the grass, digging in the dirt...

He has games Mon/Wed. On Tues/Thurs we find other ways to keep busy like the movies, library or the swimming pool. This summer has been so busy, but a lot of fun.

The Summer Crazies

2009-06-23T20:23:00.000-07:00

Eddie found a marker on the drive home and colored his lips, arms and legs black.

The boys running wild at Chuck E Cheese's.

Grandma Carpenter helped the boys make planter boxes to take home. They got to pick the plants they wanted to put in the boxes. Painting the boxes and using the hammer were the best parts.

The boys helped Grandpa Carpenter mow the grass.

Grandpa Larry trying to coax Eddie to eat his lunch.

Me and 2 of my 3 beautiful nieces, Eveline and Shyla.

Ethan at his preschool graduation, he is second from the end on the left. They sang a few songs and talked about what they liked best abut preschool.

We've been wanting to do a blog for a long time and have finally decided to do it! This summer has been kind of busy so far. Ethan had a great time at his preschool graduation. We took a trip to Washington to see Bethany and Jeni's babies. The boys had a really great time with grandma and grandpa. We stopped in Boise half way home and let them wear themselves out at Chuck E Cheese's before heading home. It was a really fun trip.