3 Months {on time}

Are you ready for some serious cuteness??

I'm finally on time with this. Here is B's 3 month pictures. Can you believe it?? Three months already!

It was a beautiful day so we decided to go outside with this. And I'm so glad that I did.

He is a big boy! He is holding his head up really well and loves to look around. When he is sitting on my lap he likes to sit looking at me. When I'm walking around he wants to see what is going on and where he is going.

He is recognizing voices. I was walking the hallway in church and he heard his dad teaching in one of the rooms. He perked up right away and was looking for him.

He loves his brothers and loves to be read to by them. {Tommy is walking by as I took this picture}

He likes to sit on the counter while I cook. I talk to him and sing to him when he starts getting fussy. Thankfully he doesn't realize what a bad singer that I am. "Book of Mormon Stories"  is not a favorite song.... He does however, like "How Firm a Foundation" and "When I am Baptized" and "We Thank Thee Oh God for a Prophet"

When he was younger he hated being in the bathtub. Holy Moly!!!! He would scream!! I would hurry and wash him and get him out. Now he loves it!!! He loves kicking in the tub and splashing around. He gets so surprised when water splashes on his face.

He is sleeping really well. We finally have a good schedule and he is getting a good two naps a day. He is sleeping all night {yeah for mommy!!}

He is getting really good at getting his fist in to his mouth. I'm sure soon he will get the whole thing in there. Apparently his fist tastes really good. He hasn't found his thumb yet, but it seems like he is working on it.

The funny thing about our boys is that they are cookie cutters of each other. I look at pictures of them when they are babies and they are so much alike. They definitely have their differences, but you can pick them out of a line-up as brothers.

B is noticing his hands and how amazing they are. He will study them for a few moments and then shove them in his mouth. He is also peeking at his toes. He likes to watch them but not sure yet about touching them

I know I'm bias.... all moms are, but really.... can you beat these eyes?? All of the boys have incredible eyes!!

Time flies so fast. I wish I could hold on to these moments a little longer. I want to hold all the boys as little boys forever. I love watching them grow... but it goes so fast.

I love you my little B!

Science with Candy.

In the days after Halloween what in the world do you do with all of the candy that you get??? Me... we start doing science with it. {that way the boys don't think it's so bad when we have to throw it away}

Here is the plate that we put in the freezer. After about a half hour I took it out so we could touch it. It was all hard and the things that were chewy.... weren't any more. Oh sad.... then we had to throw the candy away.

Next we put some candy in bowls and the poured boiling water over it. We watched the water melt  and dissolve the candy. {In the colored bowl those were Mike & Ike's and in the yellow bowl.... a Starburst}

Here we have Samrties and Whoppers. Did you know that Whoppers explode in hot water?? Not like 'bang' explode, but all the inside starts coming out. Even before the chocolate melts all the way.

And here is a Hot Tamale. It was in the water for 8 minutes and then when we picked it up all the color was gone.

It was fun to see what would happen to all the candy. As we played with it all. And ahhhhh we had to throw away all the candy that we messed with. After the first time we did this the boys wanted to keep doing it with different candy. So we did. And soon enough we had a half bowl left of candy.

{oh... and don't worry we took out all the good stuff and put it away. Can you blame me??? Why would I ruin perfectly good candy}

Cookie Nut Creations

I am so excited to tell you that I am now apart of Cookie Nut Creations. It's a great blog!! As it is in the title it's where talents are explored.

I met Camie in high school in good 'ol Moapa Valley. I moved and years later through the power of blogger I found her blog. Camie is so talented with making something out of nothing! I mean it. She can see something beautiful in the most mundane things.

I don't know Karena very well. But reading her blog and seeing her tutorials and reading her work, she is amazing. {Go and peek at her digital stuff.}






Go and see what these girls have created... Me??? I'm just trying to keep up.

In LOVE!!!

I am learning to cook and bake and to generally like being in the kitchen. I have had really small kitchens or some with not so good planning.

I am totally in heaven with my kitchen! LOOK AT THIS!!!! A 8 FOOT ISLAND!!!

I feel so inspired to cook! I love it. I love being able to have my mixer out all the time. I love not having to clean up between each prep thing that I do. I love that there is room for all the kids to be around the counter and help... all at the same time. I love that I can put the bouncy seat for B right up on the counter while I make dinner. I love that I have drawers that have nothing in them.

Have I told you how much I love my kitchen???

{these were taken before we moved in... the kitchen is happy now that we are moved in and there is always something going on in here.}

Throwing Tomatoes

One day I want to go to Spain for the day that is a big Tomato Fight. I think that would be so fun. It's on my list of things to do in my life. But this post has nothing to do with that... in fact just the opposite... I'm not throwing.... just bottling.

A friend of mine brought me a box of tomatoes {thank you Ashlee!!} And since nothing stays mold free for long here in Florida {and we didn't have room in our fridge} I needed to do something. So I go the bottles out. Which wasn't so bad because I had just gotten done bottling chicken. {I had a busy day....}

The start of the tomatoes....

 Now this was the first time that I had ever done tomatoes, and my first time ever blanching anything {we have peaches but the husband really likes doing fruits so I let him have at it} So 3-4 minutes in boiling water....

And then into some cold water. Now here is a tip... it doesn't necessarily have to be ice water. The ice water just cools the fruit down faster. By the time I took this picture all the ice that we had in the house had melted, so it's just cool water. AND... the fruit can sit in the water as long as you need it to to cool down so you can handle it. {there was some questionable language by me before I realized that it was ok for the tomato to sit in the water and cool completely}

What a great sight to see... an empty box!

Clean bottles....{and cups as well}

Here is the start of my bowl of tomato flesh. After you pull the skin off, and it really does just come off, you want to clean out all the juice and seeds as best you can. You can half or quarter the tomatoes... these are quartered it made it easier to clean out the seeds.

Don't forget the lemon juice 2 Tablespoons per Quart bottle. {do you see the pint bottle there.... yeah that's my chicken I did today too....}

After you blanch, clean and get all the seeds out, bottle them up. If you have enough tomato juice in the bowl just add that. If you don't you can add a little water, but just up to the rim. Run a knife around the inside of the bottle to let out any air bubbles. Wipe the rim and put the lid on. And put them in a pot of boiling water to process. At sea level they process for 45 minutes


If you jars are not warm don't put them right in the pot, they will crack. {I know from personal experience} You can warm them up just in the dishwasher {on the heat setting} or just hold over the steam from the boiling water. You are just wanting to warm the jar so you don't put a cold jar into hot water.

Look how pretty!!! Now I have fresh tomatoes to use!! yeah for me :)

{I was so happy that they tasted the way they were suppose to!}

Now you see it....

 Now you see it......

 Now you DON'T!!!

Tommy lost his first tooth!

Happy Halloween!!

 Happy Halloween to all.... about a week late. I know... I know... I'm trying to get all caught up.

We had a good Halloween and I was so excited to have two boys who wanted to be traditional Halloween things.

I have a Vampire..... {getting this shot was hard, All Tommy wanted to do was to smile. I guess not a total bad thing but being a vampire is not a laughing matter.}

 And a Skeleton!! And yes people that was my handy work in painting on all of those bones! I was up until wee hours of the morning because I promised I would have it done. It passed inspection {by both the husband and the child} and was put on.

 Then I had the cutest Transformer that you will ever see. Although Tim was mad that he couldn't turn himself into a car. I just had to remind him that cars only get gas... not candy.

 Did you know that baby costumes are like $20!!! I mean really.... they will only get one wear out of it!! So B went as himself.... his cute self. And it worked out because then for the Trunk or Treat I could wrap him up and wear him

 Here are the other boys all together. The crazy just continues!!

 Oh... and here we have the husband.....

 Oh, and look.... he just had a baby!!

Amazing how that works :)

Two Months already!!! {late again....}

 As I write this Benjamin is 2 days away from being three months old!!! {the pictures were taken when he was two months I just have been slakin' big time!!!}

So let me take you back a mere month....

At two months he had just found his fists.... he liked the way they looked but didn't know what to do with them yet.

I love his huge eyes!! They are big and blue and gorgeous!! He has a dimple too that I wasn't able to get a picture of. It's just one and so cute.

 The lighting on this picture is really bright but I love the way he is looking right at me. You know when babies are first born they have this was of looking right through you. But as he got close to two months old he started looking right at me. It was wonderful, and now when he looks at me he smiles. I love being this little guy's whole world!

Ok, and I know this one is a little fuzzy, but just look at those cheeks!!! I eat them up everyday! They almost look to big for him, and that is what makes them even more yummy to kiss on everyday!

It took a mere 2 months 1 week and 2 days for him to start sleeping through the night! {yeah for mommy!!} We are still working on a good nap schedule but that fact that I can get a full night sleep is great!! He is growing so fast and wanting to be a part of everything already.

The brothers are a big help and do a great job with him.  Benjamin is definitely loved in this family!!!

{check back next week for his three month pictures... I'm working on getting caught up.}