Lotsa Milestones (August)

Here is the month of August in pictures.  We had lots going on (big surprise, I know.)

As always, I must have a picture of someone sleeping.  Why is it not me?  Holden has actually been a pretty good sleeper through the night.  Thank goodness there is some sweet relief in that.

Cameron loves this picture because his fireman's outfit reflects and "glows."

He is getting so big!  Look at that crazy blonde mohawk!

Love that sweet smile. And UNC-represent!!

Wish my mirror didn't have disgusting baby spit up goobers all over it.  Maybe I should think about cleaning that.  In any case, why did it take me five kids to figure out to put a mirror by the changing table.  It's amazing what being forced into using your dresser will help you realize!  Holden is so much more alert now and loves looking at himself.  

The boys love looking at themselves in the reverse feature on my phone.  And look at me keeping it real, make-up free and exhausted looking.  This is my life right now.  

I think Ethan was just happy that Holden was content to just sit still one night, and he wasn't walking up and down the halls trying to get him to sleep.

Tiernan learned how to tie his shoes-just in time to go back to school.  I hope his teacher appreciates that!  

So, of course, Zane and Jaxson needed in on that action of Mommy's attention.  So obviously we must put on Daddy's shoes.  But how cute are kids in over-sized shoes?

We fina-freaking-ly closed on our house!  I will spare you the gory details, but we were basically squatting on our house for the past few months.  Stressful to say the least.  We felt a HUGE weight lifted when we signed on for 30 years of debt.  Who would have thought?

My sister took a picture of our family so we can see how much the our family and property changes over the years.

What?  How did I get the four big boys all together in one frame?

This is the only picture Tiernan would let me take of him on the first day of 1st grade.  I love that he has the squinty too-sunshiney eyes.  

Here we are zoomed-in and blurry.  I'm surrounded by men!  And when did my six year old get so tall?  

Cameron absolutely LOVES his baby brother.  Almost every day he asks to hold Holden and is so sweet and soft with him.  I keep trying to catch on camera Cameron telling Holden stories and asking him questions.  It is totally adorable.  

Where did the summer go?

Whoa, how has it been so long since I last posted?  Yikes!  An entire summer has gone by!  Well, here ya go, the summer in a few quickish posts.  Here comes July:

Cameron playing dress-up

Here we are at the Eaton Days parade.  Look at us being involved in the community events.  The boys loved all the junk that they passed out at the parade, and Gary was excited to chase down all the parade marchers in search of candy for the "boys."

Good grief!  I have too many babies to take care of :)  Good thing they're so stinkin' cute!

Marcy sent us this selfie (quadruple-sie?) of the big boys and Brenda before they left over the mountains to come to Grand Junction.  I love this pic-so cute!

We always seem to pick the hottest week of the year to visit Grand Junction.  Seriously, I think every single day it was at least in the high 90s if not 100s.  Sheesh!  A pool was a definite must, and the boys loved crashing into each other.  

I love, love, love, both these pictures of Cameron and Grandma White making minion cupcakes.  Apparently Cameron didn't want his picture taken, but he had so much fun making this fun treat and was so proud.    Do you see those little eyeballs in the corner peeking up to see what's going on?

Holden gave us his first smiles this month.  Yay!  It's a good thing, because he had been a pretty colicky baby in the evenings.  I guess one out of five babies ain't too bad, but I have the least amount of energy and patience to deal with it.  I did cut out dairy from my diet and that seemed to help.  He was so gassy and throwing up all the time so I knew his tummy was bothering him.  

I know I've said this three million times, but how beautiful is the view from my parents' backyard?  

Look at what a good mom I am!  My children are all sitting quietly coloring pictures.  This happens ALL the time.  HAHAHAHAHA!  

Jaxson was more interested in coloring on the table I think.

Not amused

Oh my goodness we have had the weirdest, wettest, cool summer.  I'm not complaining-I love the cooler weather, but look at all that water.  SO unusual for us in the middle of the summer!

My biggest boy lost his second tooth in Grand Junction.  The tooth fairy was able to find him at Grandma's house.  He was so cute because he totally was gripping the tooth under his pillow in an effort to catch the tooth fairy.  It took "her" like ten minutes to trade out the tooth for money.  

Saying Goodbye to Grandma Pat

It's taken me nearly two months to be able to write this entry without breaking down in tears.  My grandma had to have open heart surgery and seemed to be doing really well immediately following the surgery. However, she passed away suddenly five days later.  I obviously wasn't able to be in Grand Junction since I was very very pregnant, which made it even harder.  I wanted to be able to grieve with my extended family, and hug my dad and his sisters.  Death is always difficult, and although she "lived a good life" at 80 something years old, she will be sorely missed by many.  Thankfully, my dad's family waited about a month to have her funeral, so at least we were able to go to that.  It was nice to be able to see family that we hadn't seen in a long time, and share memories of my grandmother.  And, everyone was able to meet Holden for the first time, so that was fun too.  I wish my grandma would have been able to meet him here on earth, but God had other plans....

Here is my other grandma and grandpa meeting Holden for the first time:

After the funeral-my mom, aunt, sister, cousin, and my boys

My grandma would have loved to see us all together

My other grandma and Tiernan were having a dance party at her house.  The other boys were too cool for school.

Jacob and Libby loved getting to hold Holden:

We will miss you dearly Grandma Pat! Although I know you are joyful in heaven, we mourn your presence here on earth.  We look forward to being reunited one day!

     

Party of Five

Hang on, this blog post promises to be a long one!  *Somehow* I'm finding I don't ever have enough time in the day!  And this blog gets sorely neglected.  The month of June of course has been craziness. Since Tiernan is out of school I have all five boys all day long-and with a newborn at home, I find that I don't have much trouble falling asleep at night-ha!  It's a good thing these boys of mine are so dang cute because they wear me out!  

Cameron has really surprised me.  He is so nurturing to Holden and is always worried about if he's okay.  Out of all the boys, he asks to hold the baby the most and always comes and tells me if Holden is crying or has puked all over the place, which is often.

I am in love with these pictures (and the boys in them, too!)

Thankfully so far Holden has been a super easy baby.  He sleeps a lot (I think it's self-preservation!!) and is usually pretty content when he is awake.  Of course I'm also comparing him to my most recent experience of twins, so anything would seem easy after that!

My biggest boy finally lost his first tooth.  His two bottom adult teeth had grown in behind his baby teeth.  He totally looked like a shark!  One day when Ethan was helping him brush his teeth one fell out.  Thankfully the tooth fairy happened to have some cash and did visit Tiernan that night.  

Can you read his onesie?  "Face it, it's time to call Grandma."  Toooo true!

The weeds were taking over our property, so we had to break down and buy a riding lawn mower.  Ethan was devastated ;) and the boys love going for rides on the "tractor."  

Holden was not very excited about his first bath, but now he thinks they're great. 

I somehow got all five boys together in one picture.  They were not all pleased, as you can tell, but here they are! 

Aren't baby feet so adorable?

Ethan's work had a "Bring your kids to work" day.  The boys loved sitting in the fire trucks and watching them raise and lower the ladder.

Jaxson was so proud that he put my flip-flops all by himself!