Life as the 4th child...

Tanner has a different life then Jacob did as our first child.  He has siblings to "play" with him.  Whether it be dressing him up with coin eyes,

Or helping him try on the new shop goggles

Or creating a statue.(Don't worry they aren't actually sitting on him.)

Or sweeping the floor so you can play. (I have no clue what was happening here, I didn't take the picture or hold the broom over his head.  I found the picture when I was putting the pictures on the computer.)

 

One thing is for sure, siblings love to share their Valentine's candy with their baby brother.  I was wondering why Tanner was being so happy and quiet.

A baby brother is also a good way to get rid of the Nutella toast you don't want to eat. 

But mostly having three older siblings makes for a happy life with so many people to love you.

Jumping For Joy!!

This is how we spent our Sunday evening while Ben was at Stake Priesthood meeting.  The kids were excited to see their jumps caught on camera!

 

My Christmas Present

Ever since I was a little girl I always wanted a window seat.  Our house had the perfect window for a window seat but it was never the priority project.  Lucky me, my dad and Ben built one over the Christmas break!  I love how it turned out!  The guys spent two days from start to finish, paint and all.  While they were building, my mom and I shopped for fabric and made the cushion and pillows.   Under the window seat is storage that we put books from an entire bookshelf in.  The front doors hide the books for a cleaner look.

Our living room used to be a bit of this and that with zero seating.  Now two bookshelves are removed, the computer desk is gone and it is a bit more like a living room.

I painted this rocking chair we had in the basement and hung family pictures where the bookshelf used to be.

 

I was really excited about the pillows.  Pillow forms range from $8-$20 so it would get pretty expensive to make 8 pillows.  I had the idea to buy the $2.50 standard bed pillows and push the stuffing tighter and sew across the top to make a square pillow instead of a standard bed pillow.  It didn't take much time and made a great and inexpensive pillow form. 

 

Thanks mom and dad for all your work and money!  Thanks Kevin and Laurel for the curtains!

Christmas Time!

For the past couple of years I have wanted to make picture ornaments of our family from past Christmas's.  I finally did it this year.  I made 8 ornaments for the past 8 years and also made 10 more so that as the years go by I can just add the picture and not have to re-make ornaments every year.  Here are two done and hanging on the tree.

 

I copied the idea from here.  I LOVE this blog and read it all the time.  She has great ideas and opinions.  I followed the tutorial except I used foam board instead of wood.  For $6 I was able to cut out 18 ornaments.

Just for fun, here are some cute photos of Santa baby and his siblings

Lullaby and Goodnight

I was switching a load of laundry today and set Tanner down on the dryer.  He was hungry so the next item on the agenda was to feed him.  However, after I switched the laundry he was sound asleep comforted but the soft vibration of the dryer.  I Love it!

Race Day

Jacob and David ran their first race on Thanksgiving this year.  They had a lot of fun participating and being a part of race day.  Our plan was to have one of us at the start line and one at the finish, unfortunately the race was a bit disorganized.  By the time I had ran all over trying to locate their race numbers we only had one minute to pin them on and then they were off.  Ben and I were left at the start line with two extra coats, a car seat with a baby inside(heavy), a diaper bag and a two year old.  We really tried to run to the finish line to see them cross, but we missed the big moment.  The boys still had fun and got running bags with a bunch of free stuff(garbage), snacks after, and a race day shirt.  The race this year was just .25 miles but Jacob says next year he wants to run the 5K.  We are proud of our little runners!

Sugar Anyone?

On Friday we were babysitting some of our friends kids and decided to make cookies with everyone.  When we asked one of the boys to put the sugar away, this is what happened.  When the sugar spilled I was grateful I laughed instead of getting angry.  There are times when I get really angry about things kids do but I find they are getting less often, and I am laughing more.