Captain Jack

So I finally caved...we are now a "REAL" family

because we own a DOG.

Meet our 15 week old (and almost full-grown) puppy:

CAPTAIN JACK

(yes, that's a pirate name...what'd you expect?)

Isn't he adorable?

Jack is a SCHNOODLE

(which basically means he's way CUTE, SMART,

CUDDLY, and DOES NOT shed).

The boys were so SURPRISED on Christmas morning!

It was FUN.
Potty training is not fun.

But Jack is learning FAST
(I wanted to name him EINSTEIN but I was out-voted).

Jack is really the BEST PUPPY ever.
He PLAYS great with the boys.

I seriously have heard him BARK once since we brought him home

(ok, except for Jack's first night in his new bed...but that only lasted about 5 minutes).

He naps during the day and pretty much sticks to

his own toys.

Jack likes our POOL...not that he's tried it...but he's a little too CURIOUS about it (so we've had to make changes to keep HIM safe).

We adore JACK and are so excited

to have him in our FAMILY!

'Twas the night before Christmas...

And I WISH nothing was stirring!

They FINALLY fell asleep around 9pm...

...and I couldn't resist posting this pic of my boys

in their Christmas PJz (thanks, Grandma Liz).

NOW

I wait until Diane & Brandon's flight arrives.

It was suppose to be here around 11:30pm

then 12:00am

then 12:30am

now it's 1:11am (a little more precise?)

who knows?

I suppose Diane will technically make it

for Christmas MORNING like she wanted

(we might just need to go to bed AFTER presents!)

Merry Christmas!

Happy Birthday, Brendan!

So we DID CELEBRATE Brendan's birthday on time

(it was ACTUALLY ON his ACTUAL day, even.)

Since then things have been a blur...

hence the LATE blog...better late than never!

We LOVE BRENDAN so much!

We can't believe he is already SIX!

Here are some of the things we ADOREabout him:

his ENTHUSIASM & ENERGY

his great DESIRE to do everything JUST RIGHT

his STUBORNNESS (yes, it's good)

his HUGS & KISSES

his QUICK wittedness

his SMARTS

his HEART...it's SO BIG

I could go on and on and ON...

For Brendan's birthday we had party...with 19 KIDS!

(Then Mommy & Daddy took naps!)

Brendan wanted a SPACE theme...so we had aliens...

And played LOTS of spacey games like CATCH THE ALIEN

(with your head of course)...

And we had a MOON CAKE!
The two hours FLEW BY...and it was a BLAST!

Seth can ride...ride, Seth, ride!

So I promised to post this back in July...

I'm just a little behind.

Seth was so PROUD of himself.

(And we were proud, too.)

He was able to learn to ride 100%

on his own in less than 30 min.

Thank you, Grandma Carolyn!

Now the HIGHLIGHT of his day is coming

home from school to RIDE his bike.

(So much better than video games!)

MY DYLAN

So to avoid any heartaches over the lack of "Dylan-mania"

in the last couple of posts...I thought I'd give him his own.

Dylan is STILL the most adorably EASY kid EVER.

His laugh will make the grouchiest person hysterical.

He only gets cranky when he's tired or hungry

(and the minute you pick him up he smiles).

Dylan still LOVES to CUDDLE.

He says "Dada" all the time

(he's saving all the "Mom"s for the important stuff).

The look of surprise and accomplishment

when he walks across the room is priceless.

Dylan conistantly sleeps 12 hours every night and

takes a 3 to 4 HOUR nap EVERY DAY...and YES,

Dr. Cabey has assured us this is healthy

(apparently he's growing...

why didn't the other boys do that??)

The other day Dylan had so much fun with his toys...

emptying ALL of them out of the basket, that is!

He'd empty it and Luke would "clean-up"...

then Dylan would empty it and Luke would "clean-up."

This lasted for quite awhile until finally Luke exclaimed,

"You'd better stop being so messy

or I won't help you no more!"

(No idea where he comes up with these ideas).

P.S. Just thought I'd let everyone who WONDERS

"Why on EARTH do you live in ARIZONA??!" know...

Today the high was 75 (at 4pm)
and we wore long sleeves and pants to stay WARM!
A little pathetic to some...FABULOUS for us!

Short Road Trip: Mt. Lemmon

My Dad flew in to visit for the weekend...

so we took a 2 hr drive up to Mt. Lemmon.

If you have never been up the Catalina Hwy

...you NEED TO...

The views were gorgeous all the way up...

...even where the new growth is covering up last year's fire.

Within 28 miles you go from desert landscape

to pine trees and an 8000' elevation!

We stopped in Summerhaven and it was only 60 outside!

We had some cookies the size of PLATES

and yummy HOT chocolate at the COOKIE HOUSE.

Why have we never been here before??

Nice shades, Seth!

On the way back down I managed to get

a couple of good shots

of my favorite GUYS as the sun began to set..

MY DAD

MY BRENDAN


MY SETH

MY LUKE & SWEETHEART

Goodbye cooler weather...we'll be back SOON.

Happy Halloween!

So we went ALL OUT on costumes this year...

Brendan and Luke wanted to be BEN 10

(boy who turns into lots of different

GOOD aliens to fight the BAD aliens)

Ben 10 watches...check

green cargo pants...check

white shirt with black stripe down the middle...

Hurray for DUCT TAPE!...check

Seth wanted to be a BOXER

fighter robe...check

boxing gloves...check

missing tooth (since May!)...check

Converse hightops...check

boxer shorts...check

fake muscle t-shirt (for our extreemly modest boy)...check

cardboard "medal" belt...check!

(we literally bought NOTHING for the costumes)

Can you say CHEAP?

And we worried the boys would feel bad that we didn't

spend lots of money on costumes this year...

...but this year was a real KNOCK-OUT!

The boys want to MAKE their costumes again next year!

SCORE!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, DAD!

So I have the GREATEST Dad.

He can FIX anything (and even if he can't, he tries).

He LISTENS to my problems (and doesn't pick sides).

He is my biggest CHEERLEADER

(though I'm still waiting to see him with pom-poms).

He VALUES my opinions (even if he doesn't agree).

He always SUPPORTS me (even if he doesn't always understand my choices).

He's one of the STRONGEST men I know

(he stopped smoking...really stopped).

His favorite snack is GRAHAM CRACKERS with milk

(yes, that makes him great).

He likes to live in DENIAL that all the imporant women in his life have photography on the brain.

I could go on and on and on

about how GREAT my Dad is...

but I'll save all the sappiness and just say

Happy 57th Birthday, Dad!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, DYLAN!

Our sweet baby boy is ONE (Saturday)!

Where did the year GO?

Dylan is by far the happiest kid EVER...

we are so LUCKY!

After feeling guilty for just planning on a Cold Stone cake

for Dylan's birthday (thanks, Shan)...

I threw together a "Castle Cake" with whatever junk

we had around the house (sorry, buddy).

But, ALL the kids thought it was AWESOME

(and I guess that's all that counts).

Here is the play-by-play of Dylan's

first "birthday cake" experience:

Why are all these people staring at me?

I think I'll get tired and play "shy."

Hmmm...I liked the ice-cream Grandma gave me.

Maybe I'll TRY the cake.

Still testing...

Cake rocks! Can I have more??
HAPPY BIRTHDAY, MR. HAPPY!!

EVEN NUMBERS

This weekend we had a wonderful SURPRISE visit

from my cousin, Shannon, her two adorable daughters,
Jenna & Allyson, and my Aunt Gayle.

It was so nice to have much more EVEN numbers

& other GIRLS around all weekend!

The kids played together NEARLY perfectly

& the adults had lots of ADULT time.

We had SO MUCH FUN! Come again, SOON!

FEARLESS ME!

So all of you who think I am still the LITTLE CHICKEN

I always was growing up...think again.

Diane took me rock-climbing to "conquer"

my fear of HEIGHTS.

And I did make it past the "free-style" line.

(Do you like our "child-care center"?)

NICE SNAKE???

While in Oregon this summer,

my nieces had a "Zany Zoo Pets" party for their birthdays

...and this big snake (albino boa constrictor?)

was part of the "entertainment."

I WAS THE ONLY ADULT

WHO WOULD HOLD THE SNAKE!

(ok...ignore the white-knuckled-fists...

I scored BIG points with my boys!)

So there you go...I am officially FEARLESS (mostly).

CAPE PERPETUA

This is where we went camping over Fourth of July

(no comments on my blog-speediness, now)

near Yachats, Oregon.

Every once in awhile Luke and Brendan surprise us.

(Luke was afraid of how high up we were

...where did he get that?)

The beach was like a forgein planet

...I don't think they EVER touched it!

Even though it was cold (60) & drizzly

...the boys LOVED camping at the beach!