The race

Matt convinced me to run a race with him, when I say with him I mean we started at the same point and ended at the same point, but the distance in between was very different!  Matt ran the 1/2 marathon and I did my very first 10k.  I was so glad I did it and grateful to Matt for his support and encouragement.  Matt did great and finished 4th overall and 1st in his age division.  I just wanted to finish and I did, so it was a success.  It was a fun day to be together without our kids if nothing else.

I wanted to get better pictures after the race, but we were both too tired so we called it good and went home and took a nap!

4 years old

I can’t believe this kid is 4 already.  Marc is a great boy and is growing up so quick.  He loves going to preschool and is learning so much.  He is a good helper and tells me he loves me all the time.  We are lucky to have Marc in our family.

We had a fun little party for Marc, he picked out his cake and put the sprinkles.  We had fun decorating it together and almost had a disaster when Marc lost his balance and almost fell into the cake.  I caught it on camera and was also able to catch him before he fell, it was really funny.

Marc was really excited about eating the cake and had a hard time waiting for Matt to get home, so there were swipes of frosting missing from one side by the time we blew out candles.  Marc had a rough day, I wasn’t very patient with him because I was trying to unpack and he was trying so hard to be good but he felt his presents needed to be opened and it was a struggle all day.  I popped a balloon that he was teasing Luke with and Marc was heartbroken, he went and hid in a closet and was sobbing.  Then I heard him say through his sobbing, “I hate mommy, I want her to die.”  I didn’t know what to do so I texted Matt to see how I should handle the situation.  Well after I blew up a new balloon Marc told me I was the best mommy ever, so I think we are ok.  Even with that little incident it was a fun day to celebrate our big boy Marc.

Catch-up

I feel like I am doing a lot of catching up these days, but hopefully we will get settled soon and be back to normal.  We have moved into our house and are loving it.  It is taking me so long to get things unpacked, but each day a little more gets done, so we should be getting there soon.  Here are a few pictures of the living room.  It is the only room in the house that doesn’t consistently look like a tornado hit it.  I love our carpet and the paint color, so all the stress and worrying was worth it!

Our lawn is coming up so well, and it’s exciting.  We mowed it for the first time and the boys can play on it now.  It’s fun to see the house changing so much.

September flew by with all that we were doing, we did fit in a trip to Firth, my two sisters who are also married were there and we spent the week shopping, canning, and chasing kids.  It was fun to have a break from the house and be with my family.  My brother Ryan and sister Rebecca both went on missions and both spoke the Sunday we were there.  It was awesome to see them all grown up and ready to serve.  We will miss them, but know they will both be awesome missionaries.  Here are a few pictures.

The boys and Abby ran in the Spud run, Marc loved it Luke hated it. 

My grandpa decided that the great-grandkids needed bikes so each family got a john deer bike, Marc loves it

The boys loved playing in grandpa’s waterfall and watching the pigeons.  It was a great trip.

Progress

We had a great Labor Day weekend full of hard labor.  Matt ripped out a bunch of trees and cleaned up the yard.  I worked on the painting and we are getting closer to being done.  The boys are awesome “helpers” so the progress is limited to nights after Matt gets home, but it’s starting to come together.

The boys got a horse ride from one of our neighbors and loved it.

Marc started preschool this week and John sat up by himself for the first time.  I’d say we made a lot of progress this week.

Don’t be fooled

I know he looks calm in this picture, but this is a rare occurrence so I had to take a picture.  Luke is anything but calm he feels the need to jump off of everything and falls all the time.  The result of the last fall was a trip to the ER for three staples.  He fell off a chair at lunch at hit another one.  As soon as I picked him up and saw all the blood I knew it wasn’t just another bump, so I loaded everyone up to go and get it checked out.  It was during lunch so Matt was able to come and help out for a bit which I was very grateful for.  Luke was a champ and only cried a little bit.  I couldn’t watch them put the staples in, but hopefully I will get a little tougher because I know this won’t be the last trip we make to the ER.

This little guy

is six month old.  I don’t know where the time has gone.  He is growing like crazy and is getting some cute rolls.  He weighs 17 lbs 10 oz and is 28 1/2 inches long.  He can roll both ways, puts everything in his mouth,  has three teeth, and loves to jabber.  He is a great baby when he gets enough sleep and doesn’t have a tummy ache.  We love our little John.

Here are the pictures

So as promised here are pictures of our house. 

The kitchen. We aren’t doing anything in here yet, but the sunflowers will be coming down soon!

The upstairs living room it connects to the kitchen through the doorway you can see.

 

Upstairs bathroom

 

Basement family room

This room is a continuation of the family room, and will be the toy area.

Next to the toy room is the laundry room.

And finally the downstairs bathroom.

There are also four bedrooms which look like ordinary rooms.  Matt pulled all the carpet and pad out and I am really tired of pulling staples out.  We are getting ready to paint and new carpet will go in on the 17.  There is lots to do, but I am excited to see how it all turns out.