What we've been up to

We've had a couple of busy months, and I wanted to catch up before things get more crazy (because I KNOW they will).

Addie had a birthday!  My little princess turned 6 in August.  She is such a joy, and such a challenge.  With every ounce of sweet comes an equal ounce of sass.  This includes stomping (literally) off and rolling eyes and TONE!  But she's also the best helper I could ask for, she watches out for her brothers, and she is easily the most excited to have a baby sister come into our family.  This may be because I promised she could have a bunk bed only if she had a sister to share it with.  I keep reminding her that this is easily 5 years away, but she's confident that she's getting the coveted double decker :)  I love this girl and am grateful for being her mom.

Addie also started 1st grade this year.  We are soooo lucky to live one house away from the school walkway, and we get to walk to school nearly every day with great friends.  Here she is with Emily on the first day of school.  Herding little boys and excited girls to school was not the most conducive to picture taking, so I failed a little on the first day pics.  Oh, well.

Not the best pic (goofy look) but Addie's lost her two bottom teeth.  Her first was the night before her dentist appt, and she was a total trooper!  I was determined that the dentist would not be involved in that milestone, so we worked hard all week to make sure that didn't happen.  Turns out that tying floss around the tooth and giving it a good yank up works great!  We're two for two. 



And Max also started school.  He doesn't look too enthusiastic, but he truly loves going to school.  My little man that refuses to acknowledge me teaching him anything can now write his name and is starting to identify letter sounds in words, so I am totally loving preschool.



Poor Hudson wants to do EVERYTHING Max does.  Including carrying a backpack and going to school.  Don't worry, I've since upgraded his backpack to a cool Buzz Lightyear backpack instead of a pink hand-me-down from his sister.

And Max had a birthday, too!  He's now a big 4 year old, and he takes this responsibility very seriously.  I love this sweet little man, and he is easily my most cuddly and loving child.  That means he's also the most tender-hearted, so he has his fair share of crying.  He tolerates Hudson so well, the taking things away and the beating up and the tantrums.  In turn, Hudson thinks the world of Max.  Good thing :)

One of the things that have kept us very busy is the work we've been doing/having done on our house.  The biggest and best thus far is changing our backyard  from a trashy dump to a great place to be.

We started out with this...

and this...

and went thru this...

and this...

to this...

and this...

and this...

and this...

and finally THIS...

and THIS!!

Sorry for all the patio pics, but it's something long desired.  Even in Milwaukee, we dreamed of extending our patio into something great to hang out on but never did anything about it.  If you need concrete work done, I know the man to use!! 

I know I'm a little early, but we had Trunk or Treat last weekend so I'll put up pics of that so I'm current for the next time I decide to catch up my blog.

Man, did we luck out!  All three kiddos were good with costumes we already had, so I just had to supplement them a little and we were good!

Captain America was a hit, and all I had to do was buy the shield.

With a Scooby-doo costume in his hand at WalMart, Hudson decided to be the dinosaur we had at home.  I promised a little face painting, and we were golden!

You should've seen the costume list this girl came up with, most that needed to be purchased.  She ended up deciding on a witch, again because of the face paint!  Left over wig from Daphne, tights and a broom and she was set!

And then Sunday was the Primary Program so I had to capture these cuties before church.

 Better pic, but Hudson still had his mouth open showing the googly-eye he was chewing on.  Stinker!  They did so well in the program, Addie singing her heart out and Max walking confidently to the microphone to recite his parts.  It was great!  I forgot how easy church could be when I only had one child crawling onto my disappearing lap and Corey sitting next to me again.  Sigh! 



Speaking of disappearing laps, I am down to 5 weeks left and can hardly wait!  I don't have a belly pic for you, but will probably get around to taking one before she makes her appearance -- right around Thanksgiving!  Hooray!

Summer Fun

We have had quite the summer, and I hardly know where to begin.  I guess if I blogged more often, I wouldn't have to think this hard.  Oh, well, here's to lofty goals.

I feel like we've had a crazy summer, but that may just be because I'm always on the go even if it's just to the grocery store.  Life with three busy kids is leaving me a little breathless.

Our first trip of the summer took us to Kansas City, MO.  No real reason except a baseball game, and church history sites.  We had such a good time, even though it was H-O-T!!!  We had awesome seats for the game, about 8 rows up on the 3rd baseline.  We were able to stand about 1/2 an inning before beating it for the shade.  100* plus major humidity nearly did us in.  Good thing there was a splash park for kids, and shade in the very, very top of the stadium.  We spent most of the game wandering around and spending a fortune on cold drinks and slushies, all in the name of baseball. 

I painted up the kids, Corey rounded up all his Twins hats, and we were blessed with a ball from batting practice (mainly because Addie turned on the Twins charm for the visiting team).  Corey was elated!

Did I mention the heat?  Poor Max is a head sweater, and we were all dying.

Even though he was sick on this trip (his temp after the game was 102* poor kid) he was a total trooper.

Just to prove I was there, supporting the visiting team!

Corey was in his element, loving the game and loving traveling.

We also visited Liberty Jail and Adam-ondi-ahman.  The jail was interesting, but I can't describe the spirit we felt walking on hallowed grounds at the gathering spot, knowing that Christ will walk where I was standing.  And we almost skipped it knowing there wasn't much there, not even a visitor's center.  If you have the chance, GO THERE!

All the fam, in front of the jail replica.

Doesn't look like much, but Adam-ondi-ahmen was amazing!

Here we are visiting the Renaissance Fair.  We had a good time trying new things, and people watching was great fun with that group.

Yes, that is Kathy riding an elephant!  Max was with her, and I was also riding with Hudson.  Those things are BIG!!

Addie on the javelin horse.

And, of course, the shows!  Love the jousting knights, but the theatrics were a bit much.  That's okay, I was munching on a turkey leg so I didn't mind.

We visited family in Minnesota, and had a wonderful time.  Possibly the best family visit we've had!  No one got sick, was too crabby, or misbehaved (too much).  I loved it!

We actually had a little alone time with Hudson before heading out, because Kathy was going to MN the week before us and asked if she could take Addie and Max with her for an early visit.  It was strange only having one child again, but by the end of the week we all -- including Hudson -- were ready to be one big family again.

Here's Max at Grandma Mickey's house.  She has the best toys for the grandkids!

Cousin Sully is a major baseball player, even made the allstar team for MN!  Look at that form!

Hudson taking in all the baseball fun.

Corey and his Grandma Mickey, with Rhonda loving on Addie.

Addie with one of her all time favorite people!!  Auntie Ra-Ra was so fun to be with!

One of the many friends of the Wood girls, Tanner was a major hit with all three kiddos!

Look at a couple of my men!  I just love them!!

Corey took Sully to a Twins game while we were there, they had soooo much fun!

Sully is the youngest, with two older sisters, so he loved stepping in as the 'older brother' for the kids.  And he treats them sooo well, tolerating their constant need for attention and wrestling!

But he showed them a thing or two, and wasn't taken advantage of too much.  We love you, Sully!

One of our major highlights was hanging out with our good friends at their neighborhood pool... about twice a week the whole summer long!  And when I say hanging out, I mean from 10:00-4:00, snacking, potty runs, nap time, impromptu swimming lessons, sunscreen sunscreen sunscreen, and more sunscreen!!  Every once in a while I would hear comments from Corey like, "I wish I could hang out at the pool all day long!"  Any of you that have multiple children know that going to the pool with six kids ages six yrs to six months spread between only two mothers is anything but a relaxing day at the pool, but we had a great summer, thanks Desi!

Here's Addie, contemplating jumping off the diving board into the arms of the swim instructor that was playing with the kids in her off time (what a sweetie!)

And she had to be helped the whole way down, holding on for dear life to Desi's fingers while I held the baby and took pics.

Hudson double-fisting the tootsie pops.  Did I mention that Desi is the snack queen?

Our summer trip to Utah was cancelled, so we took our own little Colorado stay-cation and had a ball.  Corey got in a couple rounds of golf, we went to a baseball game, hit up Water World, then went camping with the Rogers for a couple days.  Most relaxing vacation (aside from the work of camping) we've ever taken!

Hud and Dad hanging at the baseball park.  Love the playground they've set up for the young ones!  Note Corey's lack of facial hair?  He's back in the Bishopric.  Oh, well.  They've released me from YW Pres, so I'm awaiting my next calling (prob in Primary, I assume).

Kiddos staying out of trouble (kind of).  Mordecai, Emily, and Hudson wondering what Addie and Max were up to in the tent.

Soooo sweet!  Actually caught the boys being nice to each other a couple times for pictures :)

Even these two!  Max and Mordecai showing the love.

Mike and Emily reviewing their fun pics!

Dad and Addie having a little father/daughter chat.

These two love each other!!

So do these two!!  Not the best picture of Ruby, especially since she was a total trooper on this trip (as far as a six month old goes).  She's such a beauty, must come from her mama!

Tough man guarding the peach cobbler, shooing off the millions of flies we shared our campsite with.

Me in all my prego glory!  Not my best presentation, but this was after a sleepless night listening to a skunk munch on peanuts half the night, not three feet from our tent door.

I can't tell you how FILTHY this kid got!!  You should've seen the bathwater when we got home, Oi!

And Emily was one of the clean ones!

Last but not least, this has been a summer of accomplishments!  Addie and Max have shed their training wheels, Addie lost two teeth in one month (the second was tonight), we found out we are having a baby GIRL, and Hudson is potty trained!!  Maybe trained is a bit strong, but this is day three and his two accidents were due to being left in a pull up.  He's waking up dry and even accomplished #2 without my prompting him to remember!  Wish us luck, I could use a few months diaper-free before starting over again.

A couple vids of the kids, then I'm signing off.  I may only blog once in awhile, but I make up for it in loooonnnnnnggggggggggggggg posts!!

"This is for you, Jerry!"  Addie loves our neighbors, and Jerry wanted to see her riding her bike like a big girl.  Hud is the best scooter-er (is that a word?) we've had.  Good thing we have a tolerant daddy that likes taking all three on walks/rides in the park behind our house.  They get lots of practice!

We have since upgraded Max's bike, as this was just too small.  Poor kid had to pedal twice as fast as Addie just to stay upright.  Now he's cruising on a Spider-man 16 incher.