Life

After the last 5 months that we have had I am really focusing on slowing down... We are in our house. We are for the most part unpacked & feeling settled. I still have a few piles here and there that I am trying to figure out where to put! James & Carter went and picked up our Christmas tree yesterday & it is glowing with lights & decorated with ornaments! The neighbor kids come to play. The boys go skiing. Life is starting to feel normal again. I am happy to be home. The kids are happy to be home. Just in time to enjoy the holidays!

Carter Price

This little man is now 5!!!! I think I say it every year... But, I really don't know where the time has gone! Carter is his own little man! He is captivating! People tell us all the time that they love to just sit and watch his mannerism's, listen to him talk & love his little personality & expressions. * When he cries it truly breaks your heart! His eyes can well with tears deeper than any I have ever seen! * He crawls in bed with me every morning to cuddle. * He wakes up in the night with leg cramps & has to have his Dad! I can't rub his legs hard enough! * I also cannot make his porridge (Cream of Wheat) just perfect & won't eat it unless James makes it for him! But, would eat if for every meal if we let him! * He loves homemade cinnamon toast. * He can build amazing ships and creations out of Lego's.  He seriously amazes me! * He LOVES to draw. * He loves to do school with Mom. * He is a perfectionist. * He still hums as he wakes up in the morning. * He listens to his ipod every night as he goes to bed. * He is a tough little man and can hold his own pretty good with McKay! * He analyzes everything. * McKay is his idol. * His Dad is his Hero! * His Mom is who he run's to for comfort! * He know's the rules & he follows them & it drives him crazy when other's don't! * He LOVES to go all by himself to visit his Grandma & Grandpa Wall in Idaho. He has a very special bond with them. * He has NO fear! It does not intimidate him to do a back flip off the house boat at Lake Powell! And doesn't understand when his mother tell's him no more! * He loves Michael Jackson music. * Rocky IV is his all time favorite movie. * He is a saver! He loves to have money in the bank! * His laugh is one of the greatest things I have ever heard! * He loves bbq ribs & shrimp! * He is a hard worker & loves to work. * He is the King of movie lines! * He loves to go camping. * He is picky about his clothes... they have to fit just right. * He is my little man who truly brings me & so many others so much joy in life!!!  

A Couple Projects

I found this little desk at the DI! This is what it looks like after I painted it and added the cute little handles! I paid way more for the handles then I did the desk and the paint! But, I think that they really make it! This desk will go in the boy's room... I'm going to hang clipboards above it for them to display their drawings that they are constantly trying to tape on my wall's! 

This cute little bench that I found at a thrift shop will go in Cannon's room. I haven't had time yet to find cute fabric to make a pad for it. But, I envision a cute little mustache pillow and a zigzag pillow to go on it too! I have a fun vintage wire basket that I am going to hang above it with all of his favorite books... 

And this beauty will sit under the bench with Cannon's little dress up's stored in it! Yes, little boys do dress up! They just dress up as Spiderman & Buzz Lightyear! Something that Santa Clause might be bringing him for Christmas this year! Mrs. Clause knew that he had a really cute little suitcase he could put them in! Funny how that works! 

I have heard over and over again that it must be so much fun to buy all new things... First, I have bitter-sweet feelings about that... You loose all of your precious things and see how you feel about it! Second, I like old things! Vintage things! Yes, you can go out and buy new couches and dishes... But, these are the things that can be hard to find and take years to build up... So, slowly but surely things are coming together! 

I Have To Admit...

I have to admit that my heart skips a beat every time I come across one of Carter's army scene's... I find them everywhere! In the bathtub, on my desk, on my nightstand, under dressers... there are so many places for a little man to set up his army guys! I love the conversations he has with himself as he sets them up and changes them around. Cannon has learned that they are not to be messed with! There are plenty to go around and Carter will take an extra minute to set one up for Cannon so that he will leave his alone! 

On a side note... I had been eyeing these old vintage suitcases at a thrift shop for a couple weeks! They are the perfect size for all those army guys, Lego's and car's! They fit perfectly on the shelf on my new coffee table. (You can see the corner of another one in the top left of the photo) And, I absolutely love them! They are a navy blue color... the other one is a tweed with navy piping... So, they will be kinda perfect in the boys room too! I have another one that had red stripes on it - But, it is being saved for Cannon's room. They too make my heart skip a beat! 

It Is Time!

Today is the big day! Carter has been counting down to go skiing for the last year! He has been soooo anxious to join James & McKay! This morning he was so giddy he couldn't even eat his breakfast! As I helped him get all of his little ski clothes on his hands were shaking with excitement! James will be pretty busy with two little men on the ski hill this year... The only thing that makes me a little nervous is that Carter has absolutely NO FEAR! He will try and do anything that McKay can do after skiing for 3 years! Thank goodness for helmet's! 

A Little Inspiration

This is what I am thinking for McKay & Carter's new headboards... I have a lady who has a "in" on some pallet's working on it for me.... (Sorry, a couple of the pictures uploaded a little fuzzy... But, you still get the idea!)

This is a must because I REALLY don't like it when my children tape things on the wall's! But, they always have a new art project they want to show off...

I REALLY think I need to order these houndstooth pillows from Etsy for Cannon's room and make him a cute little mustache pillow too!

This owl piggy bank from Amazon would be perfect for Cannon...

And I am loving these numbered bookend's from Etsy for the boy's book shelf...

I'm on the search for the perfect chevron rug like this one... Found a couple that I am looking at at Urban Outfitters... But, they have grey and black & I would really like navy blue...

Oh & if I just so happened to run across an amazing necklace like this one... I would be a little giddy! 

Pinterest Recipe Reviews

 Monterey Chicken

I decided that it was time to stop just pinning recipes from Pinterest and actually try a couple! Last night I made this Monterey Chicken. It was an all around winner with James and the boys loving it and it being a really easy recipe. I did marinate the chicken like it recommends & would suggest doing that. And  I used Sweet Baby Ray's bbq sauce instead of Bull's Eye & fresh Roma tomatoes instead of the canned. James was excited about taking the left overs for lunch today... That will tell you how good it was because he is usually not too excited about leftovers! 

The recipe is here: Monterey Chicken Recipe

Crock Pot Hawaiian BBQ Chicken

The second recipe was a 3 ingredient crock pot meal. I really liked it. James thought it was good. The kids thought it was a little too spicy... It is a little spicy! So, if you are making it with a family with kiddo's I would add a little brown sugar or something to it to sweeten it up a bit. 

The Recipe is here: Crock Pot Hawaiian BBQ Chicken

After School:

McKay gets home from school everyday around 3:15 p.m. He always gives each of us a hug, tells me what he had for lunch & we discuss three things.

 #1: What made him happy at school.

 #2: What made him sad at school.

 #3: What he did nice for someone at school. 

As we talk about these things I make him toast with Nutella for a snack. It's what he always wants! He is always starving when he gets home... It makes me wonder how much of his lunch he really eats!!! 

This year I decided once again not to put Carter into pre-school. I enjoyed the time that I had with him last year teaching him & wasn't quite ready to rush him off to school... Yes, I do know that he does have to start Kindergarten next year and I better come to grips with it! We do school everyday at 12:30 p.m. when Cannon goes down for his nap. We do it for one hour. Sometimes we cut it a little short... because he is a perfectionist and if he can't get something perfect than there are tears & we stop and take a break & start again the next day! He gets a sticker each day for good work & at the end of the week he gets to pick a prize out of the prize bucket. 

Carter will always set down with McKay as he does his homework & do his "homework" to. It's one of my favorite times of the day as they sit and visit with each other about their days. 

Our Little Red Dragon

This year for Halloween we had a werewolf, Rocky Balboa & a little red dragon! 

Cannon Was The Winner...

Cannon was the winner of the first broken bone in our family... He does not understand why his little body will not let him keep up with his older brother's! He tries very hard to... There are many times that I have to go running after him to stop him from doing whatever they are doing! It usually entails me carrying him kicking and screaming back into the house! More times than not he is the one who tackles them trying to get them to wrestle with him. Which is just what happened.... He tackled Carter by his ankles and as they were rolling around wrestling each other it went from laughter to a painful scream in a second. His hand had gotten pinned backwards and one of his little bones in his hand broke. For the couple weeks that he had to wear his cast if anyone would ask him what happened (which happened a lot!) he was always quick to blame it on Carter! I have a feeling that this will not be the last cast that this little man will have! 

Pinewood Derby Winner

I will tell you this... I DO NOT LIKE THE PINEWOOD DERBY!!! It stresses me out! James and McKay worked so hard on his car. McKay spent weeks drawing out what he wanted it to look like and there were multiple trips to the hobby store to find just the right paint color and decals. James felt so much pressure to make it just what McKay wanted it to be. Because James had lost all of his tools in the fire he was grateful when a gentleman that Jason (James' brother) knew offered to help them. He had a few special tricks! One included only running your car with three wheels!!! Yes, you should have seen the judges faces when McKay showed up the night of the derby with a car that only had three wheels! And to be completely honest I was sick to my stomach. Literally! I could not even watch the first race... I turned and closed my eyes! My friend Amber was standing next to me and had to offer emotional support! I wasn't into having to win... I was just worried about my little man! He had put so much heart into his car & I was really worried that the three wheel thing wouldn't work out and that he would feel stupid... But, it just so happened that he won every race! 

What I do want to remember about the night was how much support McKay had. He had friends and their families come to watch him. Grandma & Grandpa Turley & Brett came. The Wall's were calling from Idaho for updates! And Uncle Jason was on pins and needles for Mac & just may have been as excited as McKay was when he won! 

I am good with this being our first and only Pinewood Derby! But, with three little boys I'm sure that I won't be able to talk anyone into that! 

Coming Out Of The Haze...

It truly feels as if we are starting to come out of the haze. It has been a little more than three months since the fire and life is starting to feel a little normal again. Well, whatever our new normal is... When something like this happens to you it forever changes your life. So, we are adjusting to our new normal. Some days we do better than others... But, we are starting to have way more good days than bad! I feel that throughout this journey I have been able to stay pretty positive. But, there are times that my emotions get the better of me. I am human after all. 

I get asked all the time if something is new... Why yes, everything is new right now! If it wasn't with me in the trailer at Redfish (when the fire happened) then it is new! The first week or so was rough with learning at in opportune times of things we needed... Like Carter waking up in the middle of the night with leg cramps & us having no medicine... We have had to make a few trips to Walmart in the middle of the night! Another trip was for a humidifier! Or it snowing really bad last week and McKay being in a panic when I didn't have snow boots for him to wear to school! He used to have a really nice pair of Sorrel's! I had to promise him I would have a pair to him before his first recess. And it just so happened that when I went to load Carter & Cannon up to go and get the boots is when I realized they no longer had winter coats! We have all of our rental furniture through the end of the month. So, I have been slowly but surely getting the furniture and household items bought. It's a process that we are working through! One day at a time...

I have so much to catch up on... Redfish pictures, McKay's Baptism, Lake Powell, Cannon breaking his hand, McKay winning the Pinewood Derby, Carter turning 5, Halloween... And in the mean time life goes on! I try to take it all in stride! 

We did enjoy a weekend with my parents visiting. Carter had spent a week with them in Idaho and they brought him home and spent a few days with us for his Birthday. It's always wonderful to have them here. Cannon had spent a week with them while we were in Lake Powell & he was especially excited to see them. The boys had taken a tire out of our neighbors garbage pile & leave it to my Dad to put it to good use! It might be true that every little boy needs a tire swing!