A Slice of Life

Here are my cute little guys having some fun with play dough this morning.

For a glimpse of the situation that is a little more real.

Jack couldn't wait to finish getting dressed before he started in on the play dough, and check out the mess in that hall.  I'm keepin' it real here folks. 

Rocking Chair Re-do

When I was a little girl, I had a little white rocking chair. I have a lot of fond memories of rocking in it with my dolls. Shortly after I got married, Jeremy and I found the little white rocker in my mom's basement in pieces. We picked all of the pieces up and took them back to our house, with plans to fix it up for our little girl someday. Five boys later, we have given up on any little girls coming to live at our house, but I couldn't bear to let the little rocker sit in pieces in the garage any longer, so we fixed it up for Tad for Christmas.

Now, some purists may be apalled that I painted over this rocker, but let me tell you, the chair was in really sorry shape. In fact, Jeremy told me many times that if it hadn't been sentimental to me, he would have thrown it in the trash. He had to manufacture some new spindles, dowels, and supports for it and put it all back together, then it took a lot of cleaning and sanding, but we ended up with a cute little rocking chair that my little boys are really enjoying.

Here are a couple of pictures of the chair after Jeremy got it back into working order, but before the paint job.

A final look at how I remember this rocking chair.

And a final look at the manufacturers sticker.

A couple coats of aqua paint and this rocker is clean, cute, and boy (or girl) appropriate.

Thanks Jeremy! I love it!!

A Little Bit of This and That

It has been awhile since I posted, but we are still managing to keep busy around here.  Here is a quick look at a few of the things we have been doing lately.

Dallin got his Bobcat.  When I think of all the years of scouting I have ahead of me, my stomach literally starts to hurt, so I am just taking one day at a time.   We are pleased with Dallin's enthusiasm for it so far.

Crazy hair day at school.  This was the best we could manage, since Jeremy had recently given the boys some pretty short hair cuts.  There was not a lot to work with and I am soooo not used to doing much with their hair anyway.  I consider the minimal amount of time I have to spend doing hair one of the biggest advantages to having all boys.

Eating at the Beaver Street Brewery on an overnight trip to Flagstaff.  The food is really good at this restaurant and, even though its name would not indicate it, the atmosphere is really family friendly.  The staff was sooo sweet to my boys and didn't look at our huge family of all boys like we were aliens, so that was awesome!!!

Dallin enjoying his wood-fired pepperoni pizza.

Jeremy and Tad.  I didn't get good pictures of Jack and Drake, but they were there too.

Drake chillin' out at home with the Leapster.  This is his favorite activity and what gets the credit for him learning his ABC's and numbers so young.

Sick boys!  All of my boys have been battling a cold over the past week.  Not fun.  But happily, all are on the mend and we can hopefully get back to life as usual soon.
 

Seven

Thomas just celebrated his seventh birthday!

He had a great day including pizza and homemade root beer  a bey blade battle cake, and a visit from Grandma and Grandpa Teichert all the way from Utah!!

He also got some great gifts including this new bike!  He already knew about it, since he went with his dad to pick it up on a fabulous deal on Black Friday. But he finally got to get it out and ride it.  Super fun!!

Thomas is sweet, smart, funny, and just an all around great kid.  We feel so blessed that he came to our family seven years ago!!

Five!

Jack just had his fifth birthday.  Boy those five years went fast!!! 

We love Jack so much and are so grateful every day for his kind heart, his willingness to help, and his positive attitude.  He is such a blessing in our family!  We love you Jack.  Happy Birthday!!

A little bit of Christmas fun

We have been busy with life as usual plus a little Christmas fun scattered in here and there.

 

We hung up the favorite advent calendar.

This year, I decided that I would stuff the pockets with experiences, rather than things.  So, each day the boys pull out a card and we have a fun activity.

This is one of those activities - - making sugar cone christmas trees.  Way easier than gingerbread houses and I think the boys enjoyed it just as much.

 We also made bird seed ornaments,

and hung then on the trees outside.

Jack hanging out with Spongebob.   Not really Christmas related, but I thought it was funny.

The boys visiting with Santa at the ward Christmas party.  I am pretty sure Dallin is on to the Santa secret.

Jack

Thomas spent the whole party fretting about what he should ask Santa for.  He really wants a BB gun, but he was afraid to ask Santa for it, because his mom says he is too young.  I'm pretty sure Santa will bring him one anyway - with some very strict rules.

Drake looks nervous in this picture, but he actually got right up on Santa's lap and asked him for a train set.  Shocking - I know.

Christmas gifts for the faculty and staff at Jeremy's school.

Dallin wanted to make some presents for his brothers for Christmas, so here he is working on them.  He is picking up sewing way faster than I did and I was a whole year older when I started.  Crazy.  I won't mention what he made.  We wouldn't want the secret to get out.

Thomas playing Rudolph at the school Christmas program last night.

Dallin singing "Where are you Christmas?" with his class at the Christmas program.

With the Christmas program taking so much of the evening last night, it got a little crazy around the house after we got home.  When we finally got around to family prayer, I jumped up and got back to work on a few things I needed to finish up and told the boys to go to bed.  A few minutes later, I walked into my room and saw this note, from Dallin, on my bed.

It is a good thing to remember that these little things really matter to our kids.  And I am also sooooo grateful that my boys still want hugs from their mom.  I, of course, walked right into my boys' room and hugged them all.

Patching Jeans - Check!

This is one of the tasks that I put off as long as possible, but with five rough-and-tumble boys and an educators budget, patching jeans is a necessary evil.  I swear a couple of pairs of these had only been worn two or three times before my boys came home with holes in the knees.  I am happy to say that all have been patched and are ready for wear again!

I am sad to say that it is 10:00 am and my kitchen still looks like this.  This is probably one of the many reasons that I put off patching jeans.

Well, off to clean the kitchen, and oh yeah, get the little guys dressed too.