Landscaping!

Well after living at our house for almost two years I finally had it with the mud and goat heads being tracked into my house.  So we finally began the process of landscaping.  Having a completely blank slate is a double-edged sword of being both amazing and overwhelming.  Ethan had been SO hard working in spite of the unpredictable winter/spring weather.  The boys of course have to get in on the action.  It will be SOOOOO nice to have grass and a sprinkler system.  This is the first time since being married that we'll have a sprinkler system, so I will be spoiled.  Can't wait to post the progress!

 Holden got to ride in the mini excavator

All the boys wanted to help Daddy install the drains so we don't have puddles of water collecting next to our foundation.  I think they were shoveling dirt into the toy dump truck and dumping it into the trench.

 

Ethan built a HUGE gravel/sand box for the play-set and trampoline.  The boys have been happy to be able to take their shoes off to play.  Once again, they were all such good helpers shoveling and raking the gravel around.  I am looking forward to having five teen-aged boys to do all the manual labor around my house in the future.

Pay no attention to the huge snotty boogers hanging down his face.  GROSS!

So, you can't even see it in this picture, but we have the most gorgeous views of the front range.  I am so blessed to live where I do!

It's Birthday Season!

I feel like I need to document the few times that the boys are sitting together playing nicely with each other.  I think Jaxson was taking a random nap because he fell asleep in the car.  

Tiernan in general is so sweet to Holden.  He is very protective and really watches out for him.  Unfortunately Holden's getting older and breaking Tiernan's Lego creations, so that causes lots of tears and gnashing of teeth.  

In February we were so sick for what felt like weeks and weeks.  The boys were camped out on the couch with high fevers and congestion.  Yuck.  Having sick kids is the worst!

Cameron turned 6 this year!  I say this with every birthday, but I can't believe it!  Poor kid had sicky brothers on his birthday, so it was just the four of us for most of the "party" because the littles went to bed at 6:30.  

He also lost one of his top teeth a few days later.  He was so proud and now that he's lost both of them, he looks so cute with the huge hole in the front of his mouth.  

Down on the Farm....Show

Just a few pics from the month of January.  

Oh lawdy, lawdy.  Jaxson is my only one with those beautiful blonde curls that grown woman would pay good money to have.  He gets out of a lot of trouble with those big blue eyes.

Of course I am always fighting with Ethan because he always chops off his curls when it's time to cut the boys' hair.  Ethan does have a point-most of the time the curls just are in a frizzy bed-head mess.  Look how sweet Jaxson is when he's sleeping

At the end of January we usually make a trip to the farm show in Greeley.  The boys love sitting on all the big equipment and pretending to drive.

Christmas in Grand Junction

My parents are crazy and invited us to stay at their house for like 10 days.  Okay, okay, I actually invited myself, but they AGREED.  What?  We raise the craziness and decibels about 18 million levels when we're there.  

The boys were so excited to open their Christmas Eve present which turned out to be....jammies.  They were so happy to all be matching, and we thought it was funny that the baby was Darth Vader and the big boys were the Storm Troopers.  

Here we are opening the rest of our presents on Christmas Day. 

Jaxson was cute helping Grandma cook dessert

And...falling asleep with Uncle Matt on the couch

We went to see the huge model train again this year.  The boys couldn't handle not being able to touch it!

It's kind of fun to have Christmas all spread out like this.  We got to open some presents at my parents' house, then came home and opened some at our house, and then got another Christmas at Ethan's parents' house.  Here they are opening presents at our house.  

December!

We had many adventures in December.  It's my absolute favorite time of year!

Holden loves his Grandma! 

Ethan took the boys up off-roading in the snow BECAUSE HE'S CRAZY.  They had a fun time and I enjoyed time with just one little person.  

Zane is the weirdest breakfast eater.  Usually he asks for a ham sandwich, but this morning, he asked to eat carrots!  I guess I should be happy he's not eating the sugary cereal the rest of the boys eat.  I, mean, the organic, honey-sweetened cereal that I feed the rest of them.   

Oh my goodness my baby is a toddler!  He is running all over the place and loves to wrestle.  Oh, I love him so much!

We took the boys to the little parade of lights that Eaton puts on.  Thankfully it's short and sweet and since there's not very many kids, we usually get lots of candy.  I mean, honey-sweetened carrot sticks.

This winter has been cold and snowy.  I put the boys to work shoveling.  Sometimes they're excited about it, and other times, well, let's just say, it's an exercise in discipline.

My sister made us a Christmas tree to help measure the boys every year at Christmas.  It's fun to see how much they've grown from year to year.  Although I have so many kids I fear we're going to run out of room soon!  Zane was so upset that he had to have his picture taken.

One magical day the boys were all playing happily together in the little boys' room.  I had to capture it since it's such a rare occurrence!