Yes, I know...

I'm just as shocked as you are. Three posts already this month & it's only the 9th! This one is all about the pics because I don't have the time to write much of a story. I hope you'll enjoy none the less.

Evelyn before church on Sunday showing off the dress I made for her before she was born. It looks much better on her than I thought it would!

Our little peanut has been improving immensely with her oral eating. There have been several feedings now that we've not had to use the g-tube! She still uses it a few times a day, but we are very pleased at her progress.

Just had to capture Evie's first cookie baking experience! She tried her hardest to get the dough to her mouth but mean 'ol Momma just wouldn't let it happen. Although I have to admit that I let her lick a little off the spoon! It's a rule in this house that you can't make cookies without eating at least a little of the batter.

The stockings I made for the kids this year. The only reason I had time was because we spent a week & a half in Butte with Brian's parents so I brought some scrap fabric with & pulled out Dorothy's machine. It was a fun & quick project!

Story time with Papa. I love this picture!

Sweet big brother Ricky showing a book to Evie.

I know it's not unusual for most kids, but ours like to fall asleep in the darndest places. I actually caught Ricky napping in his closet smashed up against the wall behind the laundry basket the other day. He'd actually taken his pillow with him intending to fall asleep there. I have no clue what was going through his head!

Ben asleep on the couch with elbow in his snack bowl.

Ricky amongst the books.

Ben on the floor in the doorway to Brian & I's bedroom Closet.

Ricky all covered up.
At least he's in bed & left a little breathing space!

Serious Cuteness

Since Evie first started making noises she's had a signature growl/gargling sound that she seems to enjoy even more than talking. She is so stinking cute I just couldn't resist taking a little video of her!

As many of you know, Ben started soccer a few weeks back and because of horribly smokey air many of his practices and games have been cancelled. Thankfully, this past weekend was rather nice and the air was relatively clear so he was able to play in his 2nd soccer game. Unfortunately, he had a bit of a collision early on in the game that he wasn't quite sure how to handle so he only played for a couple minutes but, here is what I could get of Ben playing up until the dreadful collision! As you will notice, it really wasn't too bad of a bump but for some reason it just did Ben in for following 20 minutes! 

And of course we can't forget about sweet Ricky! I don't have a video to share, but this pic was taken one morning a while back on our front porch. He was watching some heavy machinery work on the road in front of our house and was quite enthralled. He was ready to hop up and help if ever they asked (notice the hammer and saw in hand)! Such a cute little bugger!

What We've Been Up To

Ben started soccer a couple weeks ago and absolutely loves it! He has one practice a week and one game a week. Unfortunately, his game this passed weekend was cancelled due to heavy smoke in the air but we're hoping to have it rescheduled. It's been a lot of fun watching him and Ricky has been enjoying it too. He gets to have snacks and play outside while we're at practice and games! 

Last week there was a day when neither of the boys took naps and as you can imagine they were pretty wiped out by the day's end. After dinner we gave them a bath and as tradition I wrapped them up in a towel and put them on the couch in front of a short movie. As usual, I took that as an opportunity to get jammies and clean out the bathtub and also feed a hungry little girl who refused to wait a second longer. By the time I came back into the living room to get the boys ready for bed this is what I saw accompanied by hearty snoring from our littlest! It was quite precious.

Yesterday we decided to make a bit of a retreat to Great Falls for a few hours. We had been cooped up in the house nearly all week because of the terrible smoke and thought a bit of fresh air and time out of the house would do us all a bit of good. So after church we drove for roughly one hour to our destination and walked around the mall for a bit (they have a huge Scheels Sports Brian was interested in) and also took them by the falls and to the fish hatchery after all of which we went to dinner before heading back home. We all had a great time and enjoyed the smoke-free air! 

And now for a bit of randomness... 

Simple Joys

Nothing in particular to write about today, just a few photos of our beautiful children. They are silly little buggers who bring much joy into our lives!

Lots Going On

We've had a lot going on as of late and have only been home a handful of days in the last month. At the end of last month Brian's Mom was hit by a pickup as she was walking in a parking lot and ended up having to get three large screws put in her hip. As a result she has been forbidden to put any weight on her right leg for 6 weeks! Thus, we packed up and headed over to Butte to stay with them and help out for a while so Brian's Dad could get back to work. I won't get into all the details but will mention that she is a very strong woman and is healing and doing remarkably well. The boys and I really enjoyed getting to spend some good time with her.

In addition to spending a lot of time in Butte, we also made another trip to Billings to see our doctors and get an update on how our sweet baby girl is doing. Praise the Lord she is growing beautifully and we were given the OK by one of our doctors to deliver her in Billings rather than having to travel to Denver. If all goes well with her transition into life then we'll actually be able to bring her home before her first surgery which could be postponed until between 1 & 2 months! We were quite excited and encouraged by this news. For this trip we brought the boys with us and stayed with my sister and her husband. The boys did great and for some out of the ordinary fun we took them to Chuck-e-cheese for the first time... they had a ball!!!

Here are some random pics from the last month.

Mom and the boys snuggled up to watch a movie.

Chuck-E-Cheese:

Our handsome boys at breakfast one morning:

Evelyn's bed!

In the little time we've been home, we've managed to start getting her room put together. It's really fun and a little weird seeing little girl stuff being introduced into our home!

Recent Fun

Here's a new line of pics from the last few weeks. Hope you're all enjoying the lovely beginnings of winter!

One of the fun things we did with the boys on Reformation Day was bake and decorate cupcakes. Well, let me rephrase that, I baked the cupcakes, Ben decorated the cupcakes (notice the huge pile of sprinkles), and Cedric helped us eat them!

Papa and his boys enjoying a book at a bedtime.

Ben has been learning to cut with scissors and loves to cut paper into the smallest pieces possible... and leave them scattered all over the house!

Fall Happenings

We recently made an attempt to snap a nice family photo on our new front deck and this is the best we could come up with before everyone completely lost it while using a tripod on the camera.

Not terrible, but we'll be trying again later!

The boys got a new arts & crafts desk from Grandpa and Grandma Schultz and it's become a new favorite project spot.

The boys... had to capture this tranquil moment of the two actually sitting calmly and nicely next to eachother!

Yesterday the boys and I went to a small pumpkin patch and picked out a few pumpkins to bring home. They each picked out their own and had lots of fun painting them.

It's a good thing they make non-toxic paints these days!

As you can imagine, both boys received baths promptly after painting was finished.

A pumpkin for each of us!

Cedric's pumpkin is the bigger of the two painted pumpkins. Ben was adamant about bringing home a very small pumpkin!

I printed off some recipes yesterday of various things calling for pumpkin. Can't wait to try out some Pumpkin Chili and am really looking forward to having some toasted pumpkin seeds to snack on!

HAPPY FALL!

Life is Busy Busy

Yes, I realize it's been a while since the last post and for that I apologize. It seems we've been really busy with all kinds of random things. As there have been to many things happen in the last month to tell you all about them one by one, here is a brief summary of what we've been up to.

The boys waiting patiently for brownies to come out of the oven after helping me bake them.

Having fun throwing everything out of the toy box!

"Giddy-up horsey!"

"Whooaahhh!"

"We love our Grandpa!"

This picture was taken outside of Absarokee when we drove over to visit my Great Aunt who was visiting from Alabama.

The boys and I went and stayed with my sister and her husband in Laurel at their new house for a couple nights and while we were there we took them to Zoo Montana. Here are a few pics from our time at the zoo: