One

Our little Tad just had his first birthday!!

We had a little celebration.

This was his first experience with sweet stuff.  He loved it!!!

After a quick bath and new outfit, he opened a few presents.

It was a good day!

What I can't believe is how fast this. . .

turned into this!

Happy Birthday Tad!  We love you and are so blessed to have you in our family!!!!

Summer so far

We've been pretty busy around here this summer.  Here are a few pictures of some of the things we have done so far.  (Warning, picture overload ahead.  I restrained myself, I promise.)

Science Experiments

A trip to the Scottsdale Train Park



Riding the little train at the train park.  The boys were not used to valley heat and they were HOT!!!



Viewing the miniature trains at the park.



More electric trains.

Dallin and Thomas goofing around on the carousel.



Slip and Slide

Fishing



All the boys caught something, but this was Drake's first!!

Swimming lessons.



Dallin playing baseball.  He had just hit a double in this picture.

In the picture below he is playing catcher.  This is his favorite position (so far).



11 months

Tad is now 11 months old!!

He continues to get more fun every day.

and we still love him more every day too!

**A couple quick notes . . .

                           

 1.Isn't that retro quilt the cutest?  It was Jeremy's.

2.  Jeremy said the blog makes it look like I only love one of my boys.  This, of course, is completely untrue.  I decided to post monthly updates on Tad after I made a photobook of Drake's first year and realized I had almost NO pictures of the little guy.  Of course, we have millions of every little remotely cute thing that Dallin ever did, but by the time the fourth one comes along, the camera doesn't come out quite as often.  So, I vowed right then and there that I would not make the same mistake with Tad and that, at the very least, I would take a picture of him each month and post it on the blog to keep myself accountable.  They change so much during the first year and it would be a shame not to document it as I should.  I have enjoyed doing this, but after Tad's first birthday next month, the monthly updates will come to a close and he will just be "one of the guys" with the rest of his incredibly loved big brothers.



A Slice of Life

A couple of days ago, I was working away at my computer, paying bills, balancing the checkook, etc. when I noticed that things were a little quiet.  My oldest two boys were at school and my baby was napping, but it had been awhile since I had heard anything from Jack and Drake.  When I investigated, this is what I found . . .

Sweet Jack napping on the couch in the living room.

Drake wreaking havoc on the family room.

Lucky Me!!

Grandma Teichert's Sweet Muffins

My family might find this a bit fun. . .

A recipe my Grandma Teichert gave me years ago while I was learning to make muffins in 4-H. Still just as tasty today as I remember them back then.

Sweet Muffins

1 cup brown sugar
1 egg
1/2 cup butter
1 tsp soda dissolved in 1 cup milk
2 cups flour
2 tsps vanilla
pinch of salt (to your preference)
1/2 cup nuts

Bake at 350 for 20 minutes.

And here is the recipe in her handwriting.  (A little worse for wear.  Apparently, I was a pretty messy baker at 10 years old.)

Ten months

My sweet boy is now ten months old!

He has crooked teeth.

 He has a major temper.

And we still think he is the most perfect baby in the world!

New Beds

About a month ago I decided that it was time that my baby be moved out of my room. The only problem with this is we live in a three bedroom home. The other two bedrooms were already filled with boys. For me, it never works to have a baby in a room with older siblings. So, in order to get the baby into a room of his own, meant that all four of his older brothers would need to share a room for awhile. We already have bunk beds in that room for Dallin and Thomas, but I felt the room was too small for another set of bunk beds, so my initial inclination was to buy a trundle bed for the other two boys. When I got pricing them, I discovered that by the time I bought the bed, trundle, mattresses and bedding, we were way, way, way out of my price range. My next thought was maybe we should buy a couple of toddler beds, after all, Jack and Drake are only 4 and 2, so they can fit into the toddler beds for awhile and then when Jack outgrows his, Tad will be big enough to use it. I also knew that crib sized matresses and bedding are much cheaper than twin sized. Well, as I got looking at toddler beds, I found that everything I liked was way out of my price range, and even the cheap little toddler beds were on the expensive side when you multiply everything by two. Then by some miracle, I ran onto this tutorial at Design Mom on how to build two toddler beds for $75. I thought they were adorable and knew this was my answer.

 Jeremy helped me build these. It took about an hour one afternoon to build the frames and then about an hour on another afternoon to upholster them. I think they turned out great and my kids (all of them) love them!!! They actually cost a little under $100 to build both of them (and that was using some items we already had on hand), but that was still a fraction of what I would have paid, had I purchased two little beds. The only change we made to her instructions was to add some lumber down the middle of the bed to reinforce it. I have actually sat on these beds and my older boys have laid on them without any problems, so they are pretty sturdy little things. I made a couple of duvets and duvet covers for them.  I need to make some cute pillows for them and then we will be all set. All in all, I am completely happy with this project.

So cute!!