Pictures under the Christmas Tree

We tried to get some good pictures under the Christmas Tree this year, but...

it just

didn't

work.

Jerad however, did manage to get some nice pictures of the tree after the boys went to bed.

Resolutions

It seems like every single year I make the same New Years Resolutions. You know, I resolve to lose weight, I resolve to learn how to knit, I resolve to read to my kids more, I resolve to plant a garden, I resolve blah, blah, blah...And every year I don't follow through. As 2010 draws to a end I've made a resolution to carefully consider each and every resolution I think I should make and decide if it's worthy to make the resolution list. So, what is the criteria for making the resolution list? The resolution has to be life changing, either for me or someone else. So, come back on the January 1st and see what my resolutions are.

**Do you think I wrote the words "resolve" and "resolution" enough in the above post? Once I started typing it, I just couldn't stop.**

What?! I haven't blogged since August?!

Seriously, how has so much time passed since I last blogged? Oh wait. I remember. We started homeschooling, the new baby still is not sleeping through the night, the big boys were playing sports. Oh and did I mention that we've had strep not once, not twice, but 12 times among the 6 of us and two rounds with staph infection. Yes it's been a crazy (somewhat nasty) past few months.
I love to blog and my sweet husband has challenged me to do it on a regular basis. When I asked him what to focus on he just told me to write. He said it doesn't matter what I focus on, but I just need to write. So, diving back in and starting back again. I think you'll be hearing lots more from me on a much more regular basis.
And since I know you have no desire to see boys with strep or staph infections here are some photos from our last family pictures sitting.

My handsome boys...

just

keep

getting

bigger.

*photos by the amazing and talented Scott Wade*

Yummy Veggie Burgers

About once a week I make an effort to have a completely vegetarian meal for our family. Truth be told, I would be a vegetarian if my husband wasn't such a meat lover : )
Anyway, back on topic...
A couple of nights ago I made portobello mushroom burgers. My recipe is my own take from a Rachel Ray recipe that I saw on Food Network years ago. Another truth...in my opinion Rachel's recipes are hit or miss, but this this one was good. It was seriously good. So, give it a try. Enjoy!

Ingredients

2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
1/8 cup balsamic vinegar
2 sprigs fresh rosemary, leaves stripped and chopped
1 lemon, juiced
4-5 large portobello mushroom caps, stems removed
salt and pepper
4-5 slices mozzerella
4-5 sandwich rolls
Whole baby spinach leaves
Thinly sliced red onions

Combine the olive oil, vinegar, rosemary and lemon in a large ziploc bag. Add mushroom caps and seal. Shake to let the marinade cover the mushrooms and let sit for 15 minutes.
Grill mushrooms for 6 minutes on each side and sprinkle with salt and pepper while grilling (you can grill them on a grill or just pan cook them on your stove top). Top with cheese and eat on the rolls with spinach, onion and red pepper paste. Recipe for red pepper paste below.

Roasted Pepper Paste:

1 (14-ounce) jar roasted peppers, drained
A handful flat-leaf parsley leaves
1 large clove garlic
Salt and pepper

Combine all ingredients in a food processor and grind until paste consistency.

Muffin Tin Monday

I finally did Muffin Tin Monday for the kids again. Truthfully they ask to do it all the time, but I've just put it off. I definitely need to get back in the habit. If I start doing this for them on a regular basis again I am going to invest in some fun muffin tins and accessories.
Unsure of what MTM is all about? Then just hop on over to Muffin Tin Mom's blog and check it out.

In our muffin tin the boys enjoyed mini pb&j and pb&honey sandwiches, goldfish, a little bite of honey graham z-bar (along with their vitamins), banana, grapes and strawberry, string cheese and craisins.

*please excuse the crummy picture. I took it with my phone.*

Ten on Ten

I am joining the Ten on Ten group for the first time. If you're unfamiliar with it just head on over to the blog and read all about it. Basically, on the the tenth of each month you take ten pictures (1 an hour) and then post them on your blog. I love this idea because I've been really slack on taking pictures and hence posting on my blog for the past few months. Yesterday I took 89 pictures and it was great. I think this was just just the inspiration I needed to get back into picture taking and blogging. Enjoy my ten photos from our day.

Good morning!

Eli loves his swing

The boys built a super hero hideout and played for quite a while together with no major fights

Doing some morning school work

Lunch!

Fun brother time on the bed with Reece and Eli

Reece loves to paint and requests to do it almost every day

Painting can sure tire you out

Eli is learning to crawl and loves playing on the floor

Just before bed Eli enjoys time with daddy

Rain Rain...Please Stay

For a couple of weeks we had an unusual amount of rain for part of the country. It rained HARD for several days. I have to admit that I loved it! It definitely beats the 100+ temperatures we're used to having this time of year. And there was no sitting inside wishing for the rain to go away. We got outside and had some fun. There were puddles to be splashed in, boats to race in the streams on the edge of the road and much sidewalk chalk to color with. Sidewalk chalk really is the best when it's wet.




**This may be my new favorite picture of Reece**

Hiking--Not for the Faint of Heart

The other day we took the boys hiking around Lake Georgetown. We've been several times before, but this time we took a different route. The other times that we've gone we have been able to get to the water fairly easily, but this time we weren't able to. We just kept getting stuck trying to get down to it. However, Jerad did manage to find the largest group of Daddy Long Leg Spiders ever! Jerad walked a little further than rest of us (while we sat and cooled off with some water), then he came back and got the boys to take them to see the spiders. I stayed behind and I am so glad I did. I really think I might have completely come undone if I had seen what he was showing them. There is a picture at the bottom.


Yep, those are thousands of little spiders and there were three groups like this. Jerad threw a rock at them (of course) and they began to scurry towards the boys and which point they ran back to me and we left.

Butterflies

We ordered some caterpillars from Insect Lore so we could watch them turn into butterflies. The boys thought it was great. Personally I found it a little disturbing. They shake and look like they're in pain before they make their cocoons. Then when they finally come out of the cocoons it looks like they've gotten blood everywhere. I did some research and found out that they shake to ward off predators and the red stuff is actually left over stuff that helps them turn orange. But...I still think it's weird.

The boys really enjoyed watching them fly away.

Father's Day and First Swim

We celebrated Father's Day by going to church and then taking Jerad to lunch. The boys gave him a new stainless steel coffee mug because his other ones are old and broken. Then we took Eli for his first swim. He loved it! He loves being in the water with his brothers splashing and playing. I got him a rash guard at Target for $6 and it's great because I don't have to put sunscreen all over him. I've been looking for ones for the other boys, but can't find them in their size. It would be nice to worry about sunscreen on their back and stomachs as well. The hunt continues...

Happy Baby

I just have to say that I'm so blessed. Eli is the happiest baby. He smiles and laughs almost all the time. I can't believe he's almost 6 months old. Time is going so fast. He looks like the picture below most of the time. Happy and Laughing.

Funny Little Squirrel

So, we have this little squirrel that's been hanging around our back yard. On this particular day he was cooling down on our back porch. Here's the thing. He doesn't look like any other squirrel I've ever seen. The top half of him has black slick fur and the bottom half is brown fuzzy fur. He's the strangest little guy, but the boys and I have a good time watching him.

Seth's 5th Birthday

We just celebrated Seth's 5th Birthday (okay, not just...it's been a couple of weeks, but I'm just now getting around to blogging about it. : )
We started the morning with a trip to Round Rock Donuts. The boys love Man Vs. Food and he made a trip there on one of his shows. We got the GIANT donut and shared it (by the way, it's only $6!! A great deal for 5 people for breakfast). I'm thinking this is going to become a birthday morning tradition.
Then we met some friends and went to Cameron Park Zoo in Waco. It was soooo hot, but we had a great time. They've added a new exhibit since the last time we were there and the boys really enjoyed it.
The weekend after his birthday we celebrated with a big pool party at my parents. It was a Star Wars themed party and I made light sabors for all the kids using foam pipe insulation and duct tape. They had fun swimming and playing with the light sabors.

Starting a Weekly Retreat

There's a blog I love called Inspired to Action. A few weeks ago Kat, the wonderful author of the blog, talked about how important it is as wives and mothers to take retreats (daily, weekly, and yearly). Well, this week I started up what I hope will become a consistant weekly retreat. I got up early on Saturday and went to Starbucks by myself. I spent time reading my Bible, planning our meals for the week, and reading a few health magazines. It was wonderful. I was a little bugged that you have to pay to use WI-FI at Starbucks, so I need to find another good coffee joint that has free WI-FI.
I highly recommend this to all moms. It's nice to just get away from everything for a little bit and it's also great to have a plan for the week.

Barton Springs Green Belt

A couple of weeks ago we went hiking at the Barton Springs Green Belt. It was our first trip there and we will go back for sure. I know the first picture isn't great, but you can kind of get a sense of how clear the water is. Seriously, you could see all the way to the bottom. It was beautiful. The boys had a lot of fun hiking and throwing rocks in water. Next time we'll take a change of clothes so that they can go swimming.

My First Born

Sweet Wyatt,

I can't believe that 6 years have passed since the day of your arrival. It feels like it was yesterday. Time has flown by.

Six years ago I still had three weeks until you were due. I was hoping you would hold out until April 8th so that you would be born on your great grandfathers 80th birthday. God had other plans. I laid down for a nap and when I woke up and rolled over to get out of bed my water broke, it was 10am. Daddy was at work so I called Gram and Papa to come get me. The drive that should have taken them 20 minutes turned into an hour because there was a wreck on the highway. I was okay because I had not started having contractions. Your poor daddy kept calling from the hospital to find out where we were.

I finally got to the hospital and the doctor on call put me on pitocin to start my contractions. After 10 hours of having contractions every minute and a half I still hadn't made any progress so they decided I needed a c-section. At 10:21 pm you arrived. A beautiful boy weighing 7 lbs 13 oz, with a head full of thick blonde hair. Nurses from all over the hospital would stop by our room over the next 5 days to see you because you had so much hair. Most people said that they had never seen a blonde baby with so much hair. I think you may have had more hair then than you do now because it covered your ears and went down past your collar.

We decided to name you Wyatt Harrison. Your gender was a surprise, but we knew you were going to be a boy. We didn't even have a girl's name picked out. We picked Wyatt because Tombstone, a movie about Wyatt Earp, was one of our favorite movies. We had a tough time picking your middle name, but one night at church a few months before your arrival one of my friends suggested Harrison. It was perfect. Harrison Ford is daddy's favorite actor and now you love that you're named after Hans Solo and Indiana Jones.

Over the last 6 years you have grown into an amazing boy. You love your brothers so much and I can see the elder brother traits coming out in you. You remind me of me when I was little and I wonder if I bossed around my younger siblings as much as you boss around your brothers. I know you don't do it to be mean, but I think sometimes you forget you're not their parent. They love you too. I'm so glad you have each other. I know you'll be best friends for life.
You also love Jesus. When you heard Chris Tomlin talking on the radio you said that it was Jesus. I told you that it wasn't and you said "Well, that's how Jesus sounds when He talks to me." You've built churchs for ants so that they can come and learn about Jesus and stop being mean and biting people. You ask questions about heaven all the time. I can't wait to see what God does with your life.

You are so smart. You've learned how to read without any trouble. You love science and have declared that you're going to be a scientist who lives on the North Pole and does experiments (you promised to build me an apartment there so I can come visit). You've also said you'll be a scientist who invents new medicine to help people that are sick. Your mind is always working and sometimes I wonder how I'll ever keep up with you.

Just yesterday you told me that you like girls. Oh my! You said that there are so many pretty girls that you just can't pick one to marry. You've still got some years to decide sweetheart, but I know that it will come faster than I'm ready for.

I am so proud of you. You are amazing. Happy Birthday Sweet Boy!

Love you,

Mom

Blossom Tree Painting

I have a tab in my google reader marked "crafts for boys". The other day I let Wyatt scroll through it to pick something to do and this is what he picked.
The project came from here. Our methods were a little different, but we ended up with a similar product. We used our dot painters (this link is not where we bought the paints, but where we got them is no longer in business) for the blossoms and a permanent marker for the tree and branches. Wyatt really liked this project and ended up making several of them. It was fast, easy and low mess which is always good in my book.

Funny Face Plates

I got this idea from another blog and unfortunately I can't find the original source. The original person actually used real plates and permanently put the faces on them. I just drew faces on paper plates with a permanent marker. I used blueberries for eyes, string cheese for hair, colby cheese for the mustache and ham and a ritz cracker for the bow tie. The boys loved it and we just kept refilling their plates. And yes...Seth is dressed as Mr. Incredible and Wyatt is dressed as a Cowboy. That's how we roll.