Wazzup?

So what have we been up to lately?  The boys have started back to school and we are falling into a more regular fall routine!  Bible Study has started back (yay!) and also MOPS has started back!  We've got a full schedule and I hope we can keep up and not keep our little ones too busy.  I don't want to miss out on these sweet moments while I still have them all at home with me most days!

The boys were excited for the Alabama/Penn State ballgame last weekend.  They didn't get to see too much of it because it was during naptime.  After nap we headed to a friend's house for a Sunday School function we have a few times a year.  You sign up and go to someone's house but it's a surpirse as to who all will be there!  It's a fun way to get to know other people that you don't see as much!  The boys had a blast with the other little boys there that night.  They all played SO hard out in the backyard!

A weekend or two ago we headed to a park with ice cream!  The boys ate their ice cream and played until it was dark!

Even Noah was somewhat happy, although we held him the whole time!

Matthew is getting so big!  He's saying so many words and using 2-3 word sentences.  He is starting to grow into JM's 2T shirts, just as JM is starting to grow into 3T and 4T shirts!  They are all getting so big!

Even though it was dark, we walked a block over to our little downtown square.  Sometimes it feels like smalltown America when we're there.  There were lots of people gathered playing guitars, banjos, etc. that night and it's just such a fun, relaxed atmosphere.  Our boys love to go to the square.

It doesn't hurt that they have a fountain that they love to put their feet in!

And just for fun, look who is going to be 3 months old at the end of next week?!  Isn't he just precious?!

 

Game Day!

Roll Tide to our family back in Alabama!

The boys have their Alabama Big Al shirts on.......

and they've been reading their Big Al and Alabama Game Day books all week!  They already love football season!

Friday Fun

Friday Night Fun

With Four Little Feet

In The Fountain!

Raise 'Em Right

Can you tell we're ready for football season?!!  John Michael is excited!

Football flag is flying out front, we've got some red and houndstooth outfits picked out, and we're ready for a brand new Alabama football season!  Roll Tide!

Hard Work

Most everything about mothering 3 small ones is hard work, even just getting a picture after church!

At least 2 out of 3 look somewhat happy!

A Celebration

On Tuesday night the girls from our Sunday School class came together to celebrate Noah's arrival!  We opted to have his shower after he was born since we weren't finding out what we were having!  I'm glad we did it this way. It was SO fun and it was nice to have him there with us!

Julie was the hostess and she had her table looking so beautiful!  She had his birth announcement in a frame and some beautiful candles lit.  There was a lot of fantastic food to choose from.  I took this picture before all the food arrived-ha!

 

I am so proud of my sweet little guy!  Look how cute he was in his new gingham  outfit, all ready for his very own shower! 

 Monica brought her girls and they were so excited to get to attend a shower.  They also loved Noah and wanted to keep checking him out and holding him.  It's a sweet picture!

I had started to get a little nervous because Noah has started to get a little fussy around dinnertime and on into the evenings.  I wondered how he would do being out all evening.  He did fantastic!  He was such a sweet little baby.  So many people held him and looked at him.  We compared his looks to that of his brothers as well! 

I have some truly wonderful friends that I have been so lucky to find since we moved up here.  I don't think I will EVER forget these hard child-rearing years as long as I live, and even when I'm really old and grey and think back to when the boys were so little, I will think about ALL of these girls and what they have each meant to me.

Noah got some great gifts and tons and tons and tons of diapers and wipes!  I'm super excited about that!

I was also excited that he took a bottle!  Kacy fed him and he did great.  She even rocked him afterwards!

 

I stayed pretty late and a few of us talked and talked.  These are the sweet times, when you're so busy with little ones so much of your time and you get a chance every now and then to sneak out and do something with just some girls!  Noah was awake for a lot of the time and he was a complete angel.  He cooed and smiled and batted his arms and legs around.  I was so happy that he did so great at his shower!

I am so thankful to everyone that came and brought some yummy food!  It meant a lot to me to have each of you there to celebrate our sweet new arrival.  He truly is a blessing!

All Brother

I think all 3 of our boys look SO much alike, especially in their baby pictures.  When I look at Noah, I just see John Michael as a baby.  Although, after I've looked at these pictures, it appears Noah may look a lot more like Matthew than I realized.  They all are different, but have some things that are a lot alike too!

This first set of pictures is in birth order....

 

Can you tell which is which on this set?!

How about on this set of pictures?!

And just for fun, I thought this set of pictures looked almost exactly the same!  Noah's newborn picture is the first and Matthew's is on the bottom.  They look so much alike here!

Did Tiger Woods Start Out This Way?!

All I have to say is, did Tiger Woods start out this way?!

Matthew has a deep obsession with anything remotely round that might resemble a ball and he loves to play golf.  LOVES! 

I caught him in the act the other day.  I know I've mentioned he will make anything into a golf club and it doesn't actually have to be a ball for him to hit it like a golf ball.  Case in point: last night I cleaned up a baby tomato from the den carpet because he was playing golf with his toothbrush and using the tomato as the ball.  I'm not kidding!

He's so serious about his golf.  He found a way to carry all 3 blocks AND the golf club out to the hallway so he could hit it!  Also, he got his hat down from a peg all by himself by using his club!

 

Funny thing is, we've never actually shown him how to play or how to hold the club or anything.  We have been playing Wii golf recently, though!

He has perfect form.  What a silly boy; and he is ALL boy!

John Michael ventured over for a quick minute to take a little golf break himself!  He's definitely not as into golf as Matthew is!

Salsa and Coffee??!!

I've never made homemade salsa before, so I thought I'd give it a try.  I found this recipe and I LOVE it!  It is so good, fresh, and yummy!  I never want to buy bottled salsa again.  I thought this was pretty easy to throw together too!  Matthew loved it and ate a ton of it on some tortilla chips.  We'll be making this again soon!

Summer Salsa

Ingredients

5 ripe tomatoes cored and diced

1 small red ontion, peeled and finely chopped (I used regular onion)

2 garlic cloves, peeled and minced

1 bell pepper seeded and chopped

1 jalapeno chile, seeded and finely chopped

1/4 cup finely chopped fresh cilantro

1/4 teaspoon cayenne

1/4 teaspoon salt

1 tablespoon fresh lime juice

Put all ingredients into a mixing bowl and mix well.  Cover and regfrigerate!

(I put all of my ingredients into a food processor and mixed it that way!)

 

Iced Coffee

Also, I've never been a huge coffee fan unless it's from Starbucks and has tons of sugar and cream in it, but lately I've been enjoying iced coffee!  It only makes sense since it's been 100 degrees outside so often this summer!  I own a coffee maker, but we rarely use it unless our parents are up visiting. 

Well, I decided that I would come up with a quick and easy way to grab a really yummy and cheap iced coffee most mornings....

Here's my method:

Since I'm super busy lately and have my hands full in the mornings, I just make a BIG batch of coffee every few mornings.  Once it's brewed I go ahead and dissolve my sugar in it and set it aside and let it cool.  I drink my iced coffee out of that morning's pot and then put the leftover coffee in a large cup and store it in the refrigerator.

Every morning I grab my cup, pour in a little milk, add some ice, then add my already-sweetened coffee from the fridge and viola....iced coffee that only took 12 seconds to throw together!

I'm loving this iced coffee and I love that it takes little to no time to throw it together in a cup and go!

And just for fun,

and

Can you tell they really, really didn't want to sit and get their picture made?

First Day Jitters

Today was Matthew's first day of Mother's day Out and John Michael's first day of Preschool!  Jordan went with us and helped me get everyone out the door.  I can't figure out how I'm going to get us all there on time with a little one and two others to feed, clothe, brush teeth and hair and get shoes on, bags packed and loaded in the car!  It's a lot to do!

They were both excited to get back to school!  JM has a new bigger boy backpack and lunch box!

How cute are they?!  Oh my goodness I can't believe they're this big!

This is a picture of JM on his first day of school last year.  He still looks so little! He loved school so much and I know he's glad to be back.  He's going to learn so much this year.  They have special prayers to learn each month and they have to hang up their bags and pack their own nap maps up!

Here's Matthew and his new sweet teacher, Miss Steph.  Tonight he said "efff, efff" so we think he was talking about her!

John Michael hung up his bag and sat right down with some books and started reading.

This is a picture of Matthew last year on JM's first day of school.  He definitely looks little.  He was my little buddy on my mother's day out days and now......

This will be my little buddy for this year's mother's day out!

After we got home from dropping the big boys off, Noah and I played and played on the floor and had some tummy time together.  I then got him ready for a good nap and then started working on the house.  I cleaned, wiped counters, unloaded and loaded the dishwasher, and organized laundry.  Those few hours were so wonderful because I got SO much done without any interruptions!

Because I recorded last year's first day of school remarks, I thought I would do it today so we don't forget!

About JM:

He ate a good lunch and didn't nap too well.

He saw Matthew on the playground.

He told us his teacher's name.

He colored a school bus green.

He told us he didn't know any of the friends in his new room!

About Matthew:

He ate a great lunch and also played on the playground.

He slept on a cot for the first time and took a great nap!

He said his teacher's name a few times tonight!

 

I know it's going to be a great year.  We have a TON of activities starting up and our weeks are going to be busy.  Hopefully it won't be too busy.