The Folks Family

Any Given Wednesday!

2012-01-27T00:49:00.000-06:00

Let me tell you...being a mom to 3 takes quite the organizational effort! Each night I unload the contents of our mini-van onto the kitchen table and re-organize things for the next day. Here are the unloaded contents on Wednesday night:

10 Key Items
1. Diaper Bag - given for any mom
2. My work-out bag for the gym
3. Bible Study Bag - we have Community Bible Study on Wed mornings
4. Mitchell's Preschool Bag - preschool MWF afternoons
5. Drycleaning that we picked up
6. Snack for Mitchell's school
7. Toy for Mitchell's school for show and share
8. 3 Coats, 3 Hats because we've been stopping at an outdoor park to play each day to get some SUNSHINE while we can!
9. Bag of dog bones that my dad brought me when we met up at the gym (THANKS, DAD!)
10. Bag of random goodies that my neighbor brought me to Bible Study (birthday party invitations, etc)

My van is literally homebase for the days activities. If you glanced inside you'd think I hadn't cleared it out for weeks due to the amount of things inside, but oh no, it's only the things we need for one day.

My favorite part about the above pictures is Maverick's little hand on the table in the foreground and Tex sprawled out on the floor in the background.

And here are a few pictures of my little helper. Wherever I am, he is only 2 steps behind :)

We will miss you, Granny!

2012-01-19T23:03:00.000-06:00

As we closed the year 2011, we said goodbye to a special woman in our lives, Jacob's maternal grandma -- fondly referred to as Granny. Granny passed away on New Year's Eve. She was such a great woman! Jacob has MANY fond memories of times spent with Granny. She loved to recount many of the stories of Jacob's childhood. She absolutely loved her grandchildren!

Here are a few pictures of Jacob with Granny & Papa growing up.

Our boys were her only great-grandchildren, so she spoiled them with gifts and love. Due to the distance, we only saw her a few times a year, but she enjoyed hearing stories of the boys' antics from Jacob's mom, Katy and Jacob in his routine phone calls.

At our wedding in 2005

Summer 2010

My last picture of Papa and Granny. Papa died a few months later on Halloween.

I like to picture the two of them reunited in Heaven celebrating New Year's Eve together :)

Kelli's Baby Showers

2012-01-19T22:27:00.000-06:00

Have I blogged about how excited I am that my sister is having a baby? My first biological niece or nephew! She is due in early March and we celebrated Baby Gorgus with two baby showers over the weekend in Minneapolis. Unfortunately, Jacob couldn't ride with us from KC to Minn., so I journeyed solo with all three boys and Pilot loaded in the mini-van. (Thanks to my Dad for watching Tex). The boys did WONDERFUL! My good friend, Amanda, who lives in Ames agreed to let us invade her house mid-way through the trip to let the boys burn off some steam at her house!

Here is a picture of me with my sis and our Mom.

My mom is a saint with my boys. She has all of the patience in the world! Although she is pictured with Macallan below, Mitchell and Grandma are really big buds! Maverick is still a big momma's boy, although my mom swears that he is a Grandma's boy when I'm not around :)

I got a big kick out of the framed pictures at the shower that Kelli's in-laws threw for her.

Kelli at 31 weeks

Mark at 31 weeks :)

How cute is she?

We attended a "family" shower at Mark's parents house on Saturday and then hosted a "friends" shower at my Mom's on Sunday. This is Kel and her rubber ducky shower cake (made by a friend of Kel's)

There were lots of willing hands to hold Macallan during the showers. He sure looks pretty comfortable!

There were lots of girls to "shower" Kel with gifts!

Although Jacob was unable to ride with us, he did fly in and join us for the the weekend. He actually stayed for the whole next week to work on a client in downtown St. Paul. My mom and step-dad gave us a really special treat...a night away from the big boys! They watched Mitchell and Macallan overnight while Macallan, Jacob and I went to dinner and stayed the night in a hotel (on EY's dime since Jacob reported for work the next morning...even better!) Macallan was a gem for dinner (as usual). He slept like a log and was a happy camper the next morning. It was a really nice treat! Thanks, Mom & David!

I can NOT wait to meet Kel's baby! I love all of the roles that I play in my life -- wife, mother, friend, sister, daughter -- and I mean no disrespect for my husband, sisters, mom or dad -- but I LOVE being a mom the most. It is almost as challenging as it is rewarding! I KNOW my sister is going to love being a mom as much as I do, and I can't wait to see her start the adventure!

Macallan is 2 months old!!!

2012-01-12T21:33:00.001-06:00

It's hard to believe that Macallan is already 2 months old!!! Time goes so quickly, and the little guy is growing up so fast! He is such an agreeable little baby! His brothers absolutely love him...and so do his parents!

We went to the pediatrician today for his well-baby check-up and he's doing just great!

Stats: Weight 12 pounds, 12 ounces (75th percentile)

Height: 24 1/2 inches (90th percentile)

I thought for sure he would outweigh Maverick at the same age, but he didn't - Maverick was 13 lbs,6 oz. Our chubby baby Mitchell weighed 15 lbs, 8oz at this age!

Macallan currently has the bluest eyes of any of the boys. I say "currently" because both Mitchell and Maverick started with dark blue eyes, but they have both slowly turned to hazel (Jacob's color). Mine are grayish-blue, so time will tell with Macallan!

As you can see, his is a smiley little man. He certainly likes his bath time much more than he did at the beginning!

Maverick is obsessed with his little brother. He wants to hold him, kiss him, etc. He is still a little too rough with him much of the time though :( Most of the time, Macallan is pretty tolerant of Maverick, but I can tell he tenses up a little when Maverick comes near. I am very interested to watch their friendship develop.

Below Maverick is sitting in Macallan's baby swing, manually swinging him with his feet.

This picture of my bed is very typical most mornings....three males and me (not pictured are the two male dogs on each side of the bed). Where do I sleep, you ask? Where ever I can fit! Mitchell is the only one who rarely comes to our bed in the night. He sleeps contently in the boys' new bunk bed.

While Maverick is a little rough with his baby brother, Mitchell gentle and loving as can be. He calls Macallan either "Macallan boy" or "good boy"...I'm afraid to ask what that makes Maverick! I constantly comment on how good of a big brother Mitchell is - maybe a little too much because he recently did something nice for Maverick and when I didn't comment, Mitchell said "Mom, I thought you would say that you were proud of me for doing that?" Already fishing for compliments!

Just have a look at the chubby little man. He is filling out nicely...

...and you've gotta love his gummy smile!!!!!!

Last but not least, his 2 month chair picture. His big brothers were a big fan of the Batman outfit that we received as a baby gift. It suits Macallan :)

We are enjoying every moment with our happy baby! Most everyone says that he looks just like Maverick to them...everyone except for Jacob and I...we think he looks more like Mitchell at this age (minus a few pounds)!

Mitchell's 4th Birthday Party!!!

2012-01-11T08:13:00.002-06:00

We teamed up with our neighbor friend, Luke who turned 4 on December 26th, to celebrate birthdays! We invited some of their friends to a local indoor waterpark for some swimming fun!

Can you tell that our boys were excited to swim? They wore their goggles all the way as we drove to the waterpark.

Yes, Maverick's are upside down. :)

Mitchell even took a little catnap in them!

The birthday boy was all too excited to finally get in the water!

This is how little brother Macallan spent most of the party....no complaining here!

Alex seemed to enjoy the swimming more than the waterslides!

But not Mav...he was a little daredevil. Here he is going down on his tummy,

The Patrick family enjoyed the pool!

Here's little bikini girl, Grace! Her 2nd birthday is coming up the day after Maverick's!

Here is birthday boy, Luke

We worked up an appetite swimming and enjoyed some pizza afterwards. Lil' Lilli seems to like it :)

Last but not least, we had some cake and ice cream.

Fun had by all!!!!!!!!!!!

Folks Family visits for Christmas!

2012-01-06T14:18:00.000-06:00

We welcomed a house full of family for a late Christmas celebration! Jacob's Dad, step-mom, sister (Skyler) and brother (Connor) traveled all of the way from Maine. His other sister (Katy) and her fiance drove up from Oklahoma for some family fun!

Jacob's two sisters - Katy & Skyler - modeled their santa hats.

We did lots of fun things while they were here, including Smore making in the newly fixed firepit on the back porch.

Grammy & Grandpa spoiled the kids with a new Powerwheels Jeep! We drive it in the park behind our house. The boys love it!

The family was excited to meet our newest addition. Here is Macallan and his Aunt Skyler who just finished her first semester of college.

Next it was Grandpa Folks's turn to cuddle with the 7 week old.

Mitchell really enjoyed hanging out with Connor...his video game buddy.

Aunt Katy got to meet the little man too.

We surprised the family with a fun treat - a limo ride through the Plaza lights. Mitchell was had the limo all to himself before everyone piled in.

Maverick wasn't quite sure what to think of the big car!

Macallan sure enjoyed his quiet ride on Grandpa's lap.

Jordan (Katy's soon to be husband) and Zebra Maverick enjoyed seeing some lights!

And the whole clan in front of the limo

Next up was some gingerbread making fun, which has become a tradition at our house.

Diane and Skyler were playing on their computers, so Maverick joined right in with the Ipad. Is it sickening that our ONE year old can work the Ipad better than me? :) Seriously, he can! He calls the apps by name and scrolls around to find them. Amazing!

Mitchell was glued to Skyler's side for most of the visit...he even slept with her! At one point, Mitchell leaned over and said "You are my favorite one that came to visit." Ahhhh :) One night he fell asleep watching a movie and Uncle Jordan carried him to bed. Mitchell woke up yelling at 3am. I went to find out what was wrong and he said "You put me in the wrong bed! I'm supposed to be in Skyler's bed!" He went and crawled in with Skyler and we didn't hear from him the rest of the night.

The northeastern Folks with the Kansas Folks boys! :) We REALLY enjoyed their visit!

Mitchell's 4th Birthday

2011-12-29T00:09:00.000-06:00

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, MITCHELL!

We had so much fun celebrating Mitchell's 4th Birthday! We spoiled him from dawn 'til dusk :)

Starting with his favorite breakfast - cinnamon rolls Cinnamon rolls are his point of comparison for all foods..."I like this almost as much as cinnamon rolls." We rarely have them for breakfast because I honestly think they're better suited as a dessert, but anything goes on your birthday!

We then went to Chuck E. Cheese's for some gametime fun!

Macallan was a good sport riding around in Mommy & Daddy's arms.

Maverick was a big fan of the horse! He rode it over and over and over....

Next up is lunch at Winsteads with Grampy. They give free skyscraper icecream malts on your birthday, so we all celebrated Mitchell's birthday with him :)

Grampy then took Mitchell on a special trip to Toys R Us to pick out his birthday presents. I think they both enjoyed it :)

After coming home with his new loot of toys from Grampy, we cooked Mitchell a special birthday dinner meal. We tried to make his favorite things, which included BBQ chicken sliders, baked beans and cheetos and invited Grampy and Sherri to join us. He polished off his first plate and asked for more, so I think we succeeded! Dinner was followed by a homemade Tank cake, which he loved!

He opened a few presents from Jacob and I after dinner, including a laser tag game which Maverick and Mitchell (and Jacob) have been entertaining themselves with ever since!

We capstoned the day with a brotherly bath!

We enjoyed our day with our 4 year-old so much! He has been such a good boy lately, and such a big helper with his brothers. He constantly entertains us with his "Mitchell-isms". We can't believe it has already been 4 years since we welcomed him, making us parents! We let him stay up later than normal just to try to get the most of his special day! A special day for a VERY, VERY special boy!

2011 Christmas Card

2011-12-26T01:13:00.002-06:00

MeRrY cHrIsTmAs! :)

2011-12-26T00:37:00.000-06:00

Christmas gets better and better every year!

Here is a picture taken shortly after Santa's departure. Wow - he was generous without getting too out of control :)

As you can tell by the glow from the new fish lamp that Santa left for Maverick, the boys were up EARLY!

Thanks for the camera, Grandma and Grandpa Bays. As you can see below, my brother and I both like it, but my mom did hear me complain that "I just can't get a good shot." Hmmm...where could he have heard that?

We LOVE remote controlled vehicles! :)

We love them a little more than our dogs appear to like their candy cane rawhide bones.

Mav likes his new cell phone too...maybe that will keep him from demanding mine?

Little Macallan was a good sport from his 1st Christmas!

Mav loves his new Cozy Cab...I foresee Macallan liking it too!

Hooded bath towels double as costumes in our house :)

We had a few toy wars, but the boys played nicely together nearly all day!

This is just to prove that we weren't ALL smiles on Christmas!

(Look at that dirty face! I guess Santa left him some goodies in his stocking!)

So much for all of those pricey toys...the boys had just as much fun playing with a box.

My Dad and Sherri joined us for some Christmas fun and a yummy meal. We had so much fun that the boys zonked out early Christmas night.

.....still with smiles on their faces :)

Macallan's Debut as Baby Jesus

2011-12-25T23:21:00.000-06:00

We were so excited and honored to allow Macallan to be Baby Jesus at our church's Christmas Eve service.

Here is our family of 5 prior to the service (we bribed Mitchell to smile nice or else Santa put him on the naughty list...seriously, he's never been so cooperative for a picture!!!)

Pastor Adam is holding Macallan on stage and there is a close up of Macallan on the screen in the background. Luckily Macallan was a good little boy...he just layed quietly in Adam's arms as he preached.

Adam then laid him in a manger.

They showed a shot of the top-down view of Macallan laying in the manger on the big screen. He didn't fuss...just looked contently at Adam and listened to him.

When Adam was done, he called me on stage to get the little guy.

Each year, we conclude the Christmas Eve service with a candle-lighting ceremony. The sanctuary starts pitch black and they start with one single flame and slowly we share the flame with our neighbors until every single person has a lit candle. We typically don't have front row seats like we did this year! Here are Jacob, Macallan, Dad and Sherri with 3,000 lit candles behind them. Isn't it beautiful?

What a special story to share with Macallan for years to come!

My Little Helper, Maverick

2011-12-25T23:07:00.000-06:00

Maverick is such a good little 'helper' lately. He loves to say "I help" and get right in the action. Each morning he helps me feed the dogs and also make a smoothie for breakfast.

Here he is 'helping' me make pumpkin muffins. He gets most of the ingredients in the bowl!

He also loves to help care for baby Macallan. He helped me give him a bath the other day. No Macallan is not in the tub anymore...for safety sake I could only sneak a couple of pictures in when we were done with the bath.

Macallan is laying below in the bouncy seat.

All nice and clean and bundled up in a towel.

He pats Macallan's head about 200 times a day. Macallan usually doesn't mind, as long as he's gentle. I'm not sure if his patting is causing Macallan to cry below or if he's patting him on the head to tell him "it's okay" to get him to stop crying. Take your pick.

Cute Christmas Onesie

2011-12-25T22:41:00.000-06:00

How cute is this little Christmas onesie that my friend gave Macallan as a gift? I think it's nearly as cute as his smiley little face!

And have a look at that old man hair do! Just like his brothers, he lost all of the hair on his "dome". It's starting to come back in and is short and fuzzy - irresistible for me to rub!

Macallan is a big fan of Mitchell. Maverick is a bit rougher with Macallan, but Mitchell is so gentle and attentive.

As you can tell, this little guy just gets no attention :)

Look at this cheeseball! These kind of pictures make me want to go get him out of his bed just to squeeze him....almost.

Neighborhood Santa Get-together

2011-12-25T22:27:00.000-06:00

Our neighbor (Bob) dresses up like Santa each year and spoils the neighborhood kids with Christmas gifts. It is so much fun!

Maverick wouldn't sit on Santa's lap at Bass Pro, but there must have been something a little more familiar about this one!

Mitchell was thrilled to add to his collection of transformers.

We didn't want the kids to see Bob walk back to his house, so he snuck out the front door while the kiddos watched for his sleigh out the back window...man, were they disappointed.

Macallan was a happy camper, as usual. And, yes, I do hold my own baby sometimes...I just can't take pictures at the same time. :)

Now for the secondary entertainment of the night...the men all received "Forever Lazies" as gifts. They are basically like whole body pajamas. Of course, they had to immediately try them on!

Even Grace thought they were comfy!

Preschool Birthday Celebration

2011-12-23T09:25:00.000-06:00

Mitchell got to celebrate his birthday at preschool a little early. He was "child of the day" on their last day of school in December, which is the highlight of Mitchell's life. He is child of the day once a month, and talks about it all of the time!

We brought rice krispy ornaments (made by Gran - THANKS!) and had a little celebration with his classmates.

I can't believe he's going to be FOUR!

Gran and Pops meet Macallan

2011-12-23T09:21:00.000-06:00

Gran and Pops made the trip up from Oklahoma to meet Macallan...and spoil the boys rotten. We celebrated Christmas a little early and the boys have been entertained with their tanks, transformers, fish video and jello jigglers ever since!

Getting the boys to cooperate for a picture is a constant struggle!

Six Weeks Old!

2011-12-23T09:09:00.000-06:00

Macallan is already six weeks old and is still the happiest little baby :) He is so easy going and just along for the ride.

He is liking his baths more and more. We are planning to take the big boys swimming today, but I'm thinking 6 weeks might be a little too young for Macallan's first swim. :)

His big brothers are still big fans of the little guy (a little too much). He gets lots of kisses and hugs!

We even got to spend a little more time outdoors this week since it was so warm! He really seemed to enjoy the fresh air.

We are enjoying every moment with him and are so excited for his upcoming role as Baby Jesus in our church's Christmas Eve program. Pictures sure to follow!

Progressive Dinner

2011-12-19T22:19:00.000-06:00

We started a Christmas tradition with our neighbors last year to do a progressive dinner.

We started with appetizers at the Chalfie's house.

Soup and salad at the Weber's house

Main course at our house

...and closed the night with dessert at the Babler's (no pictures) :(

We drew names and did a "As seen on TV" gift exchange. I'm the proud owner of a new Slushy maker!

We played a game at each house too...as you can see, it was a fun filled evening!

All NINE of the kiddos shared babysitters and played at the Chalfie's. The babysitter brought her new puppy for entertainment. It worked!

Maverick was literally sleeping on top of a topless Lily upon our return....hmmm.....cute at 2, not so cute later in life!

It is so nice to have a great group of friends whose kids enjoy each others company as much as the adults!

Mitchell's School Christmas Party

2011-12-19T21:55:00.001-06:00

Jacob, my Dad and I all attended Mitchell's preschool Christmas party. The kids performed all of their little Christmas songs that they've been learning (we've heard a lot of them at home too!)

Between songs, Mitchell loudly said "Teacher, did you know that my Grampy is kind of old...and he's sitting right behind my Mommy?" I have no idea why he felt the need to share that fact with everyone, but the crowd certainly got a kick out of it....including his "kind of" old Grampy. :)

They did a little gift exchange. Mitchell had a hard time because he liked the gift that the gave better than the gift he received...we're still working on things like that!

Macallan relaxed on Grampy's lap for most of the party.

The party must've worn Mitchell out. He crashed out in the recliner for an early evening nap.

Crown Center

2011-12-15T07:27:00.000-06:00

We took the boys to the outdoor playground at Crown Center on Sunday. It was 50 degrees, perfect weather for playing outside!

My older sister, Darci and her boyfriend were in town visiting. We enjoyed spending some quality time with them...the boys liked playing with them too!

Maybe some day when they're older, we'll take them ice skating on the outdoor ice rink behind Jacob & Mitchell in this picture.

Look at that cheeseball :)

Maverick just HAD to climb up on top of everything...

...and jump off. Oh, this kid is fearless! :)

We need to go at night now and see the Mayor's Xmas tree lit up!

Gingerbread house party!

2011-12-14T09:38:00.000-06:00

We invited our neighbor friends over to make Gingerbread houses over the weekend. Nine kids, eight adults, loads of sugar and lots of fun!

Mitchell has been begging to make gingerbread houses for months, so he was in heaven!

Macallan slept through most of the event, with some assistance from Bev.

Lilli's gingerbread creation

Maverick even got in on the gingerbread fun!

Lily got some help from her creative mommy.

Alex is all too happy to have his mommy doing the work :)

Lily helped entertain Macallan.

As usual, the task that started as a kid's project, was finished by the adults.

Brian amazingly took all of the extra gingerbread pieces and created a gingerbread mansion, which was then decorated by Jill. Not too shabby, huh?

Here are our boys sampling their gingerbread houses the next day. Mitchell was a little disappointed with his little house when he saw the mansion. He said "It'd be my pleasure to trade Brian gingerbread houses." He got his wish :)

Work Christmas parties

2011-12-14T08:56:00.000-06:00

Jacob and I both had our work Christmas parties on the same night this year, so we did double duty. It was my first time leaving Macallan and his first time getting a bottle, but he did great (and I survived too!)

We had a nice time at both parties, despite the E&Y party ending earlier than Jacob thought it would. I was secretly happy that the ball dropped before midnight. :)

One Month Old!!!

2011-12-13T19:42:00.000-06:00

Macallan is ONE month old already! It's hard to believe it's already been a month, but he sure is looking bigger!

The stats from his 1-month pediatrician:
Weight - 10 lbs, 6 oz (75%)
Height - 22 3/4 inches (90%)
(literally almost the exact same size as Maverick at this age)

Macallan continues to be a pretty easy baby. His brothers continue to hug and kiss on him...probably the reason that little Mac has a stuffy nose :(

Macallan is a welcomed addition to our family and has made the transition to a family of 5 fairly easy (so far!)

The big boys are visiting Grandma and Grandpa Bays this week, so Macallan and I are enjoying a little quiet time! It's been nice to give him some undivided attention!

Here's his first month chair picture!

Santa, Baby!

2011-12-07T22:53:00.000-06:00

We made our annual Christmas trip to Bass Pro to see Santa.

Mitchell jumped right up on his lap and was sure to tell Santa that he wants Tanks and Transformers for Christmas (oh, and the toy that already picked up on his way to see Santa that is in his hands).

Maverick did NOT want to sit on his lap (hence sitting on Mommy's instead).

Macallan, our little reindeer, laid contently in Santa's arms.

Macallan's first trip to see Santa!

It was also like a free trip to the acquarium. Oh, how Maverick LOVES fish!

Advent is here!

2011-12-05T07:47:00.001-06:00

We love Advent season at our house...the time leading up to Christmas is so fun!

Here are the boys opening up their daily window in their Advent calendar for their chocolate surprise....we really do read a bible first :)

We make a special effort to go to church each Sunday during Advent (not that we shouldn't always do that!) Mitchell and Maverick go to their "kid" rooms during church, but we bring Macallan with us. He's been a very quiet, agreeable guy the last few weeks. Here is a picture of him taken at church sleeping quietly in his carrier...wearing Maverick's hat.

This Sunday we lit the candle of peace. Here are some peaceful pictures from around the house :)

This last picture is terrible because I had my camera settings off....BUT can you see a hint of a smile there? I don't think it's going to be long until we have a smiley little guy! Maybe in time to light the candle for Joy next Sunday!

Four Wheeling Fun

2011-12-02T22:43:00.000-06:00

Maverick and Macallan and I enjoyed a little outdoor time today while Mitchell was at school. It wasn't bitterly cold, but we bundled up anyway and headed outside for some four wheeling fun.

Maverick got this little four wheeler for his birthday nearly a year ago from my Mom and David, but seems to have a renewed interest in it lately.

Today was the first day we took it outside. I intended for him to ride it on the driveway and sidewalks, but he preferred off-roading!

He did get it stuck a few times, but was pretty good about pushing or pulling it out!

The below picture totally cracked me up. I honestly didn't even know the front part of the 4 wheeler opened up, but apparently Maverick was well aware of the feature because he had loaded it up with his little fake tools. Just in case he had car troubles, I suppose! :)

Macallan was a great spectator of Maverick's antics. He just rode around in my arms, quiet as could be. Gotta love his little winter snuggle suit :)

THREE weeks old!

2011-12-02T22:28:00.000-06:00

It is so hard to believe that Macallan is already THREE weeks old! The little guy has been a dream baby so far! He eats well, sleeps well and is happy and content as can be (knock on wood!) Mitchell and Maverick are still very big fans of the little guy....and obviously so are his daddy and I. He's certainly a keeper :)

I am most thankful for:

2011-12-02T22:24:00.000-06:00

Mitchell made the below project at Community Bible Study. He glued things that he was thankful for to his paper and he chose: celery (he really does LOVE celery), grapes, berries, onions (which he thought were apples) and flowers. When I started asking questions about his choices he said, "Mom, it's JUST a PROJECT." Apparently he's 3 going on 15....

I, on the other hand, am thankful for well-rested boys...of all ages.

Christmas Tree is up!

2011-11-29T23:25:00.000-06:00

The Christmas tree is up with lots of "help" from the boys. We hung only non-breakable ornaments at the bottom...needless to say our tree is a little top heavy! Jacob decided we need an inverse Christmas tree - brilliant idea! :)

Do you like Maverick's decorating outfit?

Little Mav is still a BIG fan of his little brother! Macallan was doing a little tummy time and Maverick decided to join in on the fun.

Happy Thanksgiving!

2011-11-26T07:37:00.001-06:00

We celebrated Macallan's first Thanksgiving at home this year...just the 5 of us. It was really nice and relaxed!

Macallan sported his own little "1st Thanksgiving" outfit, courtesy of my friend, Anna. Look at the
turkey on his bottom - how cute!

Macallan was TWO weeks old on Thanksgiving. :)

It was BEAUTIFUL weather, so we took advantage of the opportunity to put up our outdoor Christmas decorations. The boys were very helpful :)

The 3 Amigos

2011-11-22T10:09:00.000-06:00

We did a little sibling photoshoot in the kitchen this week in hopes of getting some good shots of the boys for our Christmas card....I think we succeeded :) I withheld the shots that are actually on the card since anyone who reads the blog will likely get one in the mail anyway - but here are some of the pictures that I'm not using on the card.

This is one of my favorites :)

They are certainly not this "precious" all of the time, but I can pretend when I look at these pictures that they're always this angelic :)

One Week Old

2011-11-19T21:56:00.000-06:00

Macallan is already over one week old! Time is flying by!

He has been the most agreeable little guy during his first week of life :) He is eating really well and sleeping more than I remember! Although he much prefers sleeping on a warm body compared to his own bed.

Mitchell and Maverick are still pretty fond of the little guy! Maverick continues to dote all over his baby brother. Anytime Macallan fusses, Maverick is the first to run to his side.

The poor little guy has a clogged tear duct in his left eye...just like Maverick did. We've been massaging it and are hopeful that'll clear up soon, but Maverick's took 3 months so we may have a while.

Here is Maverick wandering around the house in Mitchell's shoes. :)

We're home!!!

2011-11-15T15:41:00.000-06:00

Here are our last few photos as we're packing up to leave the hospital on November 12 th (coincidentally also my due date).

Macallan and Mommy

Macallan and Daddy

Macallan snuggled into his car seat...next to both of his big brothers' car seats! Now that's a crowded back seat...good thing we have the mini-van. :)

The big brothers were waiting for us when we arrived. They may not look too enthused in this picture, but they are BIG fans of Baby Macallan...especially Maverick. He kisses Macallan about 100,000 times a day and is the first to check on him when he hears a whimper asking "Are you okay?"

Each of our boys have worn the same "coming home" outfit.

Macallan - 2011

Macallan - 2011

Below is Maverick - 2010

Maverick, again.

Mitchell - 2007

Aunt Kel and my Mom are still here to help, and my Dad has been over a lot too!

You might be able to see that little Macallan has already found his thumb, although in an uncoventional way :)

He is growing bigger and stronger each and every day! He continues to be a very good baby and is getting lots of attention since there are many extra hands around...next week could be an interesting transition week for all of us!

He's here!

2011-11-11T19:02:00.001-06:00

IT'S A BOY!

We are truly blessed to welcome our 3rd son into the world!

Macallan Jacob Folks
Born November 10, 2011
12:49pm
7 lbs, 13 oz
20.5 inches.

Our OB was worried that he may be too big, so we scheduled for an induction at 39 weeks and 5 days. Here is the last picture of my bulging belly when we arrived to the hospital the night of November 9th.

8pm - November 9th

We had a fairly uneventful night and officially started the induction process the next morning. Here I am as the process begins (still happy, apparently!)

8am - November 10th

The process went very easily and quickly, making for a quick recovery for me (thanks, buddy!) Below is our first picture with our new son. We really enjoyed not knowing the gender until his birth...it made for a very exciting delivery.

1pm - November 10th

A HUGE THANK YOU to my Mom and my sister, Kelli for making the trip into town to help watch the "big boys" and of course welcome the new baby! They brought Mitchell and Maverick up to met their new brother. The boys seemed very excited...we'll see if that changes when they realize Macallan is permanent!

3pm - November 10th

Proud Grandma

His proud Aunt Kelli is expecting her first baby in March and she isn't finding out the gender either. Macallan is very excited to meet his cousin :)

He has been a very good baby so far. He's nursing very well and allowed us all to get some sleep last night.

Why Macallan? Yes, it's an uncommon name...but we love uncommon names! With the birth of each boy, Jacob has purchased them a nice bottle of scotch to save and enjoy with them on their 21st birthdays. The day Mitchell was born, Jacob reported back to the hospital with a bottle of Macallan 12 Scotch. I said "Oooh, I love that name" and it's been on our list ever since. Plus, as in the other boys names, it starts with an "M" and is 8 letters...an unintended coincidence with the first two, but why not carry it on! We actually had a good "J" name picked out for a baby girl, but I guess that one will stay in the reserves. :)

We are enjoying some rest, relaxation and time alone with our new son in the hospital, but will be headed home on Saturday. We miss our "big boys" and will be excited to officially start life in zone defense :)

Funnies

2011-11-07T14:49:00.000-06:00

The boys continue to entertain us each and everyday...and I know there are a few of you checking the blog more frequently these days waiting for a baby update, so I thought I'd give you some reading material.

1 - Although Mitchell LOVES his daddy, he's still sort of a momma's boy. I was editing pictures of a little girl the other day and he looked over and said "Ooohhh...I wish I were a girl." I asked why and he answered "Because then I'd get to be a Mommy when I grow up instead of a Daddy." Ahhh....

2 - Mitchell asked me and Jacob why God puts babies in Mommies' tummies, but not Daddies tummies. I let Jacob answer that one.

3 - Maverick's vocabulary is exploding; he can repeat just about any word you tell him. He was reading a book in the backseat of the car and started saying "Tractor". Mitchell has read the book before and knows that the "tractor" is specifically a steam shovel, and grew annoyed that Maverick was simply referring to it as a tractor. "Maverick, it's not just a tractor, it's a steam shovel. Mom, tell him. Maverick say SSSS-team, Ssshhhhh-ovel" It was pretty entertaining :)

4 - I may have blogged this one before....

Mitchell - "When will I not be able to walk anymore?"
Me - "What do you mean?"
Mitchell - "When I get old. How old will I be before I can't walk anymore?"
Me - "Oh, honey. Don't worry, that will be a LONG time away."
Mitchell - "Oooohhhh, a long time? I really want to use those special motor carts at the grocery store."
Ah, ha. Now I see!

5 - Mitchell has had some trouble aiming at the toilet lately. He came to get me after he was done the other day and said "We need to do some cleaning, Mom." I got a wash cloth for each of us and we headed to the bathroom where I noticed that of the four walls in the bathroom, he had literally peed on THREE of them.

Me - "Mitchell, how did you manage to go on all three of these walls?"
Mitchell looks at the 4th wall which is behind the door. He closes the door and says proudly "But look at this wall, I didn't pee on it!"

6 - Now this is a story that I will likely tell Maverick later in life. We recently went to the park one nice afternoon. The park was running its sprinklers, so Mitchell and I tried to avoid them...and although I discouraged it, Maverick was fascinated with running through them.

After we played for a while, Mitchell had to go to the bathroom. The actual bathrooms were locked, and there was no one else there, so Mitchell peed outside next to the bathroom. He had his pants down, his shirt up and his little pee stream was in full effect...when out of no where little Maverick decided to RUN through it! It only took once before I grabbed him, but we all got a good chuckle out of it. :)

7 - Jacob and Mitchell have been making their way through the 6 Star Wars movies (Thanks to Gran!) each night before bed. I knew he had Star Wars on the brain when we started to watch Bambi the other afternoon and as it began, Mitchell said "In a forest, far, far away....." I laughed and he said "What, Mom? I didn't say galaxy, I SAID forest!"

8 - Maverick was "helping" me put away laundry, when he started running from across the room and ramming into me (lovingly....sorda!). I asked "Maverick, what are you doing?" He responded "playing football." I'm excited to start to include little Maverick on my "funnies" updates :)

We haven't been birthing any babies yet....

2011-11-07T14:19:00.000-06:00

...so what have we been doing?

We celebrated Jacob's 32nd birthday! The boys were very helpful in eating up the cookie cake!

We took the boys to Worlds of Fun. They LOVED it! Mitchell has already been asking to go back. The log ride (pictured) below was his favorite. Maverick was too little to ride and I was too pregnant :)

Maverick loved the motorcycles and the little boats!

We opened a Halloween packages from Grandma & Grandpa Bays....and tried to video tape the boys opening it, but apparently it didn't work so we just have this great picture of Mitchel holding it in front of his face- ha!

I attended a Halloween party at Mitchell's school. He is the Luke Skywalker on the very left back side. They sung all of their cute little Halloween songs and told ghost stories. It was fun! :)

We dressed up again in our Star Wars gear to Trick-or-Treat with the neighbors.

Both boys absolutely loved Trick or Treating! They walked so nicely from house to house. Maverick couldn't quite say "Trick or Treat" or "Happy Halloween", but he's really good at saying "Thank you" or just "Thanks!" :)

Here are all of the neighbor kiddos lined up before Trick or Treating. From Left to Right - Isabella as a purple butterfly, Nicholas as Frankenstein, Luke as Luke's Donut Shop owner, Sadie as a puppy, Grace as a Sheep, Mitchell as Luke Skywalker, Maverick as Yoda, Alex as a knight, Lilli as Pocohontas (blocked by Alex) and Lily as Smurfette.

We even took the boys to an indoor swim park over the weekend (CoCo Keys). It sure does make things easier now that Mitchell can swim on his own!

I'm sure we'll continue to find fun ways to entertain ourselves until Baby #3 arrives.

No Baby Yet!

2011-11-04T18:38:00.002-05:00

We're getting closer, but still no baby! If the baby does not come on his/her own, we have an induction appointment on Thursday, November 10th. No matter how you look at it, this will be our last weekend as a family of four! Stay tuned....

Pumpkin Carving Fun!

2011-11-01T09:44:00.000-05:00

The boys (all 3 of them!) had a great time carving pumpkins this year! Maverick even learned a new word in the process...."yuck!"

This is Mitchell's scary Halloween face.

Happy Halloween!

2011-10-31T04:13:00.000-05:00

Happy Halloween!!!

We decided to go with a Star Wars theme for our costumes this year :) Mitchell is Luke Skywalker, Maverick is Yoda, I'm Princess Leia and Jacob is Darth Vadar. We had a fun trial run wearing them to a Halloween party this weekend and look forward to wearing them again tonight for our neighborhood Trick or Treat!

More Fall Photos

2011-10-26T07:56:00.000-05:00

I am obsessed with Fall photos of the boys :)

All is well in our household, just BUSY!

Here's a little update of each of us:

Mitchell - He is currently obsessed with tanks and dancing around patting his own tummy. He is officially swimming all on his own! He mostly loves school although he often tells me that he doesn't need to go back because 'he knows EVERYTHING!" He loves playing games on Wii and the IPAD, and is better at operating them than I am.

Maverick - He is fully transistiond to a big boy bed...Mitchell's bed. The boys have been sleeping together for a few weeks now while we work on Maverick's big boy room. He wakes in the morning, walks over to the stairs and slides down. I often don't even know he's awake until I hear "thump, thump, thump"..and sure enough, it's Maverick sliding down. He is talking more and more and starting to put two words together "I'm thirsty", "I'm hungry", "Want cookie", etc. He loves cars, dogs and his thumb!

Jacob - He has been spending lots of solo time with the boys lately during my photography appts, including Saturday morning football which Maverick has enjoyed just as much as Mitchell. Jacob has his last week of work travel this week, and is staying home for the month of November for the new baby. He also has a birthday coming up very soon :)

Mandi - While we're anxious for Baby #3, we're content waiting for a few more weeks. September and October have proven to be "busy season" for all 3 of my jobs....PwC recruiting, photography and my KU class...but the end is in sight. This is my last week at PwC. I have had a lot of fun with photography sessions this fall, and I'm slowly making progress editing them! I just posted my final KU class grades today, whew!

Baby #3 Update

2011-10-20T02:56:00.001-05:00

According to the latest sonogram, Baby Folks #3 is in the 83rd percentile for size. My doctor recommends an induction in my 39th week of pregnancy (November 7th, 8th, 9th or 10th), a few days before my official due date of November 12th.

Jacob is bummed because this means no 11-11-11 baby for us!

I haven't booked the official date yet, but I am hopeful that Baby will decide to come on his/her own prior to the induction date. Coming from experience, things seem to go smoother when my body decides it's ready to deliver vs. being forced into it! I also think it's fun to see what birthday the baby will pick for itself. The element of surprise is kind of fun too :)

Either way you look at it, Baby #3 will officially be here in less than 3 weeks....I guess I ought to get some things ready for the little one!

Fall Photoshoot with Mitchell

2011-10-17T06:46:00.003-05:00

Mitchell and I had a little fall photoshoot while Maverick was at school last week. When I look at these pictures, it reminds me of how OLD Mitchell is now! I still think of him as my baby most days, but he is certainly not a baby anymore!

We have a little photographer in training! When I take my big black camera along, Mitchell likes to bring his little red camera too. I'm sure his photos are as good as mine :)

Bowl o' Skittles

2011-10-15T05:18:00.000-05:00

A few days ago, Maverick found a big bag of Skittles in the cabinet after lunch. I made him the happiest little boy when I asked "Would you like me to put a few in a bowl for you?" He ate them right up :)

The next day, I was making breakfast and Maverick was playing in the cabinets and found a really big tupperware bowl. He held it up to me and I asked "Did you find a big bowl?" Immediately, I saw the wheels start turning in his brain. He ran over to the bag of Skittles and held it up to me. He wanted a giant bowl of Skittles!

Here's Maverick with his giant bowl of Skittles. I only put a few in there, but he was happy!

No, we usually do not have Skittles for breakfast, but I couldn't help but give in this time. :)

Super Boys!

2011-10-14T05:57:00.000-05:00

Just a little picture of our Super Boys! Oh, how they love their Superman jammies (and I do too!)

I had a sonogram this week to check the size of the baby to make sure it's not toooooo big. It is perfectly sized at 6 1/2 pounds. Assuming it gains 1/2 pound per week for the remaining 4 weeks, it'll be between 8 1/2 to 9 pounds. Maverick was 9lbs, 2oz, so all should be fine! The sonographer referred to the baby as a "he" a few different times. Maybe she was just throwing around the term or maybe we're adding a new little super boy to the mix in a few weeks! We'll see!

34 weeks pregnant on my 34th birthday

2011-10-09T09:03:00.000-05:00

Baby #3 will be here before we know it! I celebrated my 34th birthday last weekend, while I was 34 weeks pregnant. Yes, it was a crazy celebration that included cake and presents with Jacob, the boys and my mom. On my actual birthday, my mom and I took the boys to the Zoo. It was a great time!

Our soon to be family of 5 finally took the plunge and bought our first mini-van, a Toyota Sienna. We love it :)

Here's a little video of the cake celebration. The boys got me a singing card

The boys got me a singing card. I think Maverick enjoyed it a little more than I did :)

Pumpkin Patch FUN!

2011-10-09T07:29:00.000-05:00

Each year I request to take the boys to the Pumpkin Patch for on my birthday weekend. I LoVe the pumpkin patch....and so do they! There are so many fun things to do, like...

Riding big bikes (some with Daddy's help!)

Jumping on a big orange trampoline

Playing in the corn kernels

Getting our face painted - this one was really hard to convince Mitchell to wash off! In fact, he's sitting next to me right now and when he looked over and saw this picture he said "My Spiderman face! I'm so sad that you took it off."

Riding the barrel train

And Mitchell's all time favorite - laser lag!

The Folks men hand in hand :)

Grandma was visiting us from Wisconsin and came along! In fact, she was here for nearly a week. We didn't want to see her leave! Although Mitchell was very excited about her visit, he said "I just wish she could be here always."

I love this pumpkin picture of Mav :)

Both of the boys were sound asleep on the way home! The pumpkin patch activities wore us all out!

Saturday morning Football

2011-10-02T16:06:00.000-05:00

Mitchell started a little football practice on Saturday mornings in October. They don't actually play (thankfully!) Instead the dads help them with a series of drills with mini footballs. He seems to like it!

His favorite drill was running with the football, trying not to fumble as Jacob poked at the ball.

Little Brother didn't come watch this weekend, but I imagine we'll have a hard time keeping him off of the field when he does!

Disadvantages of being the youngest sibling!

2011-09-28T07:18:00.000-05:00

We had the Chalfie family (friends & neighbors) over for dinner the other night. The kids were all playing quietly in the living room while Jill and I finished our dinners in the kitchen. When we came in to check on them, this is how we found Maverick and Grace. There are some disadvantages of being the youngest sibling!

The Chalfie's have 3 kiddos -- Lily (5), Luke (1 day older than Mitchell) and Grace (1 day younger than Maverick).

As they were leaving, Mitchell said "I don't want my girlfriend to leave." I said "If you want Lily to be your girlfriend, you'll have to ask her." Mitchell walked up to their mini-van and through the open window, he asked "Lily, will you be my girlfriend?" Lily a little bashfully answered "Yes." It was the cutest :)

Dog Park with Maverick

2011-09-24T06:48:00.000-05:00

I enjoy my alone time with Maverick 3 afternoons a week while Mitchell is at pre-school. Most of the time Maverick naps during this time (school is from 12:30 to 3pm), but the other day he helped me take the dogs to the dog park.

As you can see he, he found an interesting way to entertain himself...by wrapping himself in dog waste bags. Great, huh?

I'm not sure who likes the dog park more.....Maverick or the dogs. Perfect outing! :)

Maverick's Children's Day Out Program

2011-09-24T06:37:00.000-05:00

Maverick started a one day a week Children's Day Out program at a local church this year and seems to absolutely love it! Bad mom that I am, my camera battery was dead the first day that I took him...so we stopped by yesterday to take some pictures out front to pretend it was his first day all over again :)

As you may be able to tell, he assumed that he was there for school and was all too excited to go inside!

We absolutely love the program so far. He has 6 little kiddos in his class, and 2 teachers. They do all kinds of fun age appropriate things. He is there each Thursday from 9:30am to 2:30pm, including a nap from 12:15 to 2:30pm. I was also excited to get one day a week to myself with Mitchell while Maverick is at school to do some "big boy" things that are hard to do with an 18 month-old...some things like movies, kaleidescope, roller skating, ice skating, etc. Unfortunately the list keeps growing because I worked each Thursday and haven't been able to take advantage of my "Mitchell" days yet, but I will soon enough (for a short time until the new baby comes)!

I LOVE that they call the program the "Children's" Day Out Program vs. the Mother's Day Out program, because that how I like to think of it! It's Maverick's fun day to play with his friends and do fun things. He even came home with his own finger painting the other day :) He seems to sleep extra long on Thursday nights, so I know it wears him out.

Once he realized the door wasn't going to open, he started signing and saying "more" because he wanted 'more school'!

As you can see, the little man wasn't too happy not to get his way!

That is until he became distracted by a basketball goal that was laying on the ground.

"You mean, I don't come back until Thursday?"

We are so happy to have found a program that we all enjoy (we're also just excited to have gotten in since we were on the waiting list for months!) He gets glowing reports from his teachers...let's hope that continues! :)

More Mitchell-isms

2011-09-23T07:37:00.002-05:00

A few more funnies to document before I forget...

- We took a family trip to the dog park. Pilot and Tex started running ahead a bit and Mitchell said "Get back here you two, or you're FIRED!" Jacob and I got a good chuckle and then Jacob asked "What does fired mean, Mitchell?" He responded "Umm..just in big trouble."

- I'm quickly learning that TV commercials are VERY effective on young children. Mitchell recently asked "Mom, can we start getting Angel Soft toilet paper?" A little amused, I asked "Why?" He responded "Well, it's soft, so it doesn't hurt and it's doubled." (meaning two-ply). Wow - who would've thought 3 year olds would be their market audience!

- Mitchell begged and begged to go with me to teach my KU class on Tuesday night. I tried to explain that I wasn't going anywhere exciting, I was just going to teach my students Accounting. He replied "Well, I can help! I can help you teach counting, see 1,2,3,4,5, etc...." If only it were that easy!

8 weeks to go!

2011-09-19T13:24:00.000-05:00

Here I am - 32 weeks along and counting! There's certainly no mistaking that I'm pregnant, that's for sure. I'm feeling great...still claiming that this has been my easiest pregnancy yet, but we'll see what the final 8 weeks bring.

Although I really enjoyed knowing the gender of the boys the last two times, it has been kind of fun waiting for the big surprise this time around. It's taken 7 months, but we've got a short list of names for each gender....but still don't know which name off of each list we'll choose.

We're starting the process of getting Maverick's new big boy bedroom ready, so that the baby can have the nursery. Our third baby in the same nursery...I'd say we've gotten our money's worth!

Mitchell likes to have contests to see who's tummy is bigger. I think I won this one.

Maverick, the carmel apple licker, was all too happy to be a spectator for the contest.

Mitchell's First Day of Preschool

2011-09-18T21:37:00.000-05:00

We're slowly adjusting to our fall schedule. Mitchell started the 4-year old program at Sunshine Preschool (the same school he attended last year). We are trying afternoon preschool this year (12:30 to 3pm). He seems to be doing very well! His teacher said he is a "good listener, kind-hearted and a good helper."

He has a small class - 6 children - 5 boys and 1 girl. Poor girl :)

Mitchell had fun looking at all of the kids' backpacks to see what superheros were on them.

He totes a Batman backpack this year. He seems to like it :)

On the way home from his first day, I asked him how he liked it. He said "Well....it was interesting. We read a story about a plant-eating dinosaur. The fancy word for them is herbivore." It sounds like they're learning!

Mitchell's funnies

2011-09-13T21:55:00.000-05:00

Many of you tell me that your favorite blog posts are reading Mitchell's funny quotes....so here are a few crowd pleasers.

This morning as I was leaving for work, Mitchell didn't want me to go. He said "Here's the Deal. You and Daddy need to start working while I'm sleeping at night, that way we can all play all day." Oh, wouldn't that work wonderfully :)
We're trying to break Maverick of the habit of being carried everywhere since we'll soon enough have another little one to carry around! We were leaving church and I was trying to get Maverick to hold my hand and walk with me...well, of course he was running the other direction instead. So I said "Bye, Maverick. If you won't walk with me, I guess we'll have to leave you here." (obviously joking) Mitchell become VERY concerned. "Mommy, you can't leave him here (almost crying). Please just pick him up and bring him home with us!" Of course, I did :) It was so cute to see how concerned he was for his little brother!
While making a peanut butter and jelly sandwich, I almost dropped the jar of peanut butter. I was just talking out loud to Mitchell and said "That jar almost went flying Mitchell. It would've dropped on the floor and spilled all over the place!" He said "Mommy, if the jar was flying it wouldn't have dropped." So literal!
Jacob and I took the boys to the circus last week. They LOVED it! Of course, the cotton candy and snowcones didn't hurt. The next morning, our nanny asked Mitchell what he thought of the circus and he answered "Well....it was pretty fancy!"...and then proceeded to tell her about his favorite parts which were the elephants (especially the baby elephants) and the motorcycles.
I've been trying to decide what type of sport to enroll Mitchell in for the fall, so I gave him a few choices. "Mitchell, would you rather do soccer, football, swim lessons or karate this fall?" Mitchell answered "I want to take scuba diving lessons."...which I found pretty humorous. I was telling my sister his request and then in a subsequent conversation, she asked if I'd decided what to enroll him in. He was listening as I joked by saying "Well, since I can't find 3 year old scuba diving lessons, I think we're going to try flag football instead." He quickly became upset...."Why wouldn't they have 3 year old scuba diving lessons????" Maybe if we do more swim lesssons, we'll get there eventually :)

Labor Day Camping

2011-09-05T22:04:00.000-05:00

Well, we did it. We've talked about it for years...at least I have talked about it...a family camping trip. Our neighbor (Jill Chalfie) invited us to crash her family camping trip over the long weekend. I would consider it "half" camping - the best kind! Yes, we slept in tents, but we camped on Jill's sister's lawn in Grand Junction, Iowa, so we had full access to power, indoor plumbing, even a big enclosed shed for dining.

There were probably 30ish people in all camped out on the lawn in tents and RVs.

I loved the view from our tent window...corn.

Here are all of the campin' kiddos. Mitchell is in the middle with his superman pjs on and Mav is 2nd from the left in a maroon jacket. They had a BLAST playing outdoors on the farm with the other kiddos. In fact, on our way home, Mitchell already asked when we're going back.

There were so many fun farm things to do. They have a chicken coop (one morning they made farm fresh egg sandwiches for breakfast!) with a bunch of chickens and one turkey named Tom. Tom was very tame and let the kids pet him.

Being out in the country was so refreshing! Here is a picture taken looking away from the house at the front lawn. Their oldest son, Kyle is flying a kite in the front yard. The black dot in the upper right corner is the kite.

Their neighbors have a small pig farm, so the kids enjoyed seeing the stinky guys.

Jill's brother-in-law owns farm equipment dealerships, so we stopped by to let the kids climb around on some of the machinery. Obviously, Mitchell loved it! Lil' Maverick napped through it :(

The women of the family are very crafty, so they organized a craft for the weekend too (rug made of t-shirts). I didn't finish mine :(

All of the kids loved rides on the Cub Cadet around the farm.

Maverick was a little too small for the cub cadet, but he was game for some wagon rides...complete with a beer box back rest.

Mitchell was especially fond of their sandbox. He's already made a special request for Army tanks and Army men for our sandbox at home! Look at the size of this thing...ours can't compete!

Who doesn't enjoy a beautiful Iowa sunset?

See that smile? We saw lots of those this weekend!

The adult guys even snuck in a round of golf on the local course. Maverick was helping them brush up on their skills before they left.

All in all, we had a GREAT time and would do it again in a heartbeat. Maybe they'll invite us back next year? :)

Head for the Cure 2011

2011-09-05T21:30:00.000-05:00

We participated in the annual Head for the Cure 5k in honor of Team Lucy, our little neighbor/friend (Lucy Weber) that lost her battle with brain cancer in November 2010.

The kiddos took turns riding and walking. They actually did a great job keeping up! Here is Lily Chalfie (neighbor friend) taking a break with Maverick.

It's hard to believe that Lucy has been gone almost a full year now. We remain close friends with the Weber family and know they go through their share of ups and downs, as expected. We were glad to be able to support them by doing the race.

T-Bones Fun!

2011-08-27T14:39:00.001-05:00

We had an extra special night at the T-Bones game last night with our neighborhood crew. We had a special package for batting practice on the field before the game, behind the dug out seats and Jacob even got to throw the first pitch of the game!

Here's Jacob taking some swings during batting practice. All of the adults (except me) took a turn batting.

The kiddos watched from outside the cage.

...including Maverick.

His favorite part was probably playing in the seats and running down the aisles before game time.

We had great seats! First base line first row behind the dugout. The hardest part was keeping the kids from sitting/climbing on the dug-out!

Maverick rested on the dugout while watching the parashooters jump from the airplane above and land on the field.

The kids enjoyed their proximity to the mascot, Sizzle.

Jacob did a great job throwing out the ceremonial first pitch of the game.

Here's a QUICK video of his pitch. It all happened so fast that I barely caught it in time!

Fun, fun night! :)

The Boys are Back in Town!

2011-08-22T05:14:00.000-05:00

The boys had a WONDERFUL week at Grandma and Grandpa's! They didn't seem to miss us at all...but were very glad to see me on Saturday morning :)

We took advantage of the cool Wisconsin weather and played outdoors much of the weekend (as they had done all week!)

Maverick tried to turn a bucket into a pool!

Of course, Grandma was all to happy to cuddle him dry afterwards.

My Mom and Dave live in a log cabin. Isn't it just beautiful? On our last plane trip to see them, the pilot invited Mitchell into the cockpit. I couldn't hear their entire conversation, but as Mitchell turned around to leave I heard him yell over his shoulder "yeah, and she lives in a log cabin." Apparently, he was informing him that he was off to visit his Grandma. :)

And no trip is complete without a picture in front of the Welcome Bear.

One of the boys' favorite outdoor pasttimes - Tractor rides!

Our quick 45 minute plane ride home turned into a 3 hour ride due to plane delays, but luckily the boys were good! Here is Maverick entertaining himself a bit on the floor of the airplane. He actually pointed at my camera which was in my carry-on bag, looked at me and said "Cheese?". I felt obligated to take his picture! (If you look close enough, you can see that he's also holding it on his tractor ride above.)

...and one of his tired big brother. Notice the orange and purple stuffed lizard that he's sleeping with. Apparently he won it at a county fair carnival game with Aunt Kelli. "Lizzie" has barely left his side...even when he's sleeping!

Here is Mitchell relaxing on the outdoor sidewalk as we waited for our parking shuttle driver to arrive to take us to our car. He loves wearing Mommy's sunglasses. Yes, we've purchased countless pairs of Mitchell sized sunglasses, but can't ever keep track of them. Mommy's seem more popular anyway!

They were both home, fed, bathed with fresh haircuts and in bed by 8pm.

THANKS again to Grandma & Grandpa for watching the boys. Mitchell has accidently called us "Grandma or Grandpa" instead of "Mom or Dad" about 100 times....I think that one is going to take a while. :)

27 Weeks and Growing!!!

2011-08-16T20:11:00.000-05:00

Baby #3 is 27 weeks along now...and growing. I literally feel bigger every day! I'm still feeling great though...he/she is taking it easy on me so far. :) No crazy cravings, no weird symptoms (besides the bulging belly), check-ups continue to go well and he/she kicks around like a ninja. I'm glad he/she is going to stay put for a few more months because I'd like Maverick to get a little older/independent before the arrival...but I'm also very anxious to see what the newest Folks is like! Will he/she look like Maverick....like Mitchell....or another unique little thing?

27 Weeks Along with Baby #3

27 Weeks along with Maverick in 2009 (I love this pic!)

27 Weeks along with Mitchell in 2007

While the boys are away....

2011-08-12T20:37:00.000-05:00

My mom called earlier this summer and asked "Can we keep the boys for a week this summer?" Without hesitation, I answered "YES!" Don't get me wrong, we LOVE our boy time, but we also value grandparent time.

My sister and I spent lots of summer days at our grandparents growing up and we absolutely LOVED it! It didn't hurt that they lived on a farm and there was never a lack of things to explore.

My mom and I made a trip down to the ol' farm with the boys last week to visit my Grandpa and to meet my cousin's adorable baby (finally!) Things remain unchanged at the farm- just a little more dated and strangely enough things seem smaller, but I know it's just because I'm bigger. This place will always bring back such fond memories...and I know my mom's house in Wisconsin will do the same for my boys!

So what will Jacob and I do this week? You should see our list of house projects and odds and ends that we've been putting off waiting until we have time....well thanks for the gift of time, Mom and Dave :)

Dog Days of Summer

2011-08-09T00:00:00.000-05:00

Pilot continues to fit right in to our family :) Mitchell laid down on the floor to pet him yesterday, and fell asleep! Pilot didn't seem to mind the company...

...but I think Maverick missed his playmate because he had to lay down and investigate what was so great about this position.

Apparently, Tex thought they looked pretty comfy because he joined in on the group nap too!

Rocket Blastin' Maverick

2011-08-06T09:24:00.002-05:00

Mitchell invented this game. Both seem to enjoy it :)

Our Newest Family Member, Pilot

2011-08-05T07:06:00.001-05:00

Nope, the baby has not arrived yet (thankfully!), but we added another four legged member to our family. We're the proud owners of an 8 month-old black labradoodle that we have named Pilot. With Tex nearing 11 years old, we recently decided that maybe it was time to bring another dog into the family. With one mention of this to my sister, she was on the hunt for the perfect dog for us....and she seems to have found him! Pilot was a neglected pet and was finally abandoned by his owners. He has a perfect temperment and has been the perfect dog....except that he is not potty trained, so we're working on it!

He is very calm and good natured with the boys. He DOESN'T shed (whooo hoo!). He and Tex get along very well too!

Here's a little video of our not-so-little guy!

Backyard FUN!

2011-08-05T06:41:00.000-05:00

We finally did it....we got a swingset! I learned a lesson from my good friend Trish's experience and we bought it including installation rather than trying to find the time and patience to put the thing together ourselves! One man spent the ENTIRE day at our house putting it together and Mitchell would NOT leave his side! He probably drove the poor man crazy with questions "What's that for?" "What are you doing now?" We took a quick lunch break and when we walked back out, I heard Mitchell ask "How's it goin' now?"

It was literally one of the hotest days of the year (105 degrees?), so I talked Mitchell into watching from inside for a short while. That didn't last long before he wanted to go back out again.

And here is our finished product...except that we haven't ordered the mulch yet to put underneath it.

Both boys seem to really enjoy it!

Mitchell is all smiles playing in the sandbox.

Peek-a-boo!

Onery little one threatening to throw sand at me.

Goin' to the Chapel...

2011-08-01T15:34:00.000-05:00

We took a family trip to Omaha for the weekend to visit friends (Bellers) and attend a wedding. The Bellers have two girls close in age to our boys. Our kiddos get along wonderfully for now...until our rambunctous boys are too much for their angelic girls to handle!

We had a mutual friend's wedding on Saturday, so we took the kids to the service with us (and surprisingly, they did pretty well!). We attended the evening reception sans kids...it was much more fun that way!

Here are the four kiddos outside of the church.
L to R
Harper (1), Maverick (18 months), Adeline (2 1/2), Mitchell (3 1/2)

Maverick was very fond of Harper. He loved to give her hugs!

I guess this is the "serious boys" picture.

Folks Family photo

The doctor confirmed it!

2011-08-01T14:28:00.000-05:00

We have some big boys!

Maverick at 18 months
Weight - 26 lbs, 10 oz - 60th percentile
Height - 35 inches - 97th percentile

Mitchell at 3 1/2 years
Weight - 43 lbs - 97th percentile
Height - 41 1/4 inches - 90th percentile

How cute is this picture? The best part about it is that I didn't even put them up to it...I walked into the kitchen to find them hugging and just had to grab my camera to capture it.

New Mitchell-isms

2011-07-24T22:55:00.001-05:00

1 - The other day, Mitchell asked "Is tooting good exercise?"

2 - Mitchell woke me up at 6:30am by coming down to my bed and saying "I have a big problem." Of course, that worried me, so I asked "What is your problem, buddy?" Mitchell said "My nose won't smell." (His nose was a little stuffed up.) Easy fix :)

3 - My sister visited us for the weekend and brought Mitchell a toy from a happy meal that she had on her honeymoon. After he enjoyed playing with it for a while, he started wondering around her bag looking for something else. I asked "Mitchell, what are you looking for?" He responded "I'm looking for the meal."

4 - Jacob and I asked Mitchell what he thought about having three kids in our family. He quickly responded "I think we should have six." We are certainly not considering having six children, so I thought maybe it would help explain why we couldn't have that many kids to Mitchell by saying "We can't have six kids because we don't have room for six kids to sleep!" Mitchell quietly thought about this for a while, until he had come up with a plan! "Well.....one can sleep on the couch, one can sleep with Mommy & Daddy, two can sleep in Grandma's bed (our extra bedroom) and if there is a really little one, it can sleep with Maverick." We quickly notice that although everyone else would be sharing, Mitchell did not propose to share his own room/bed. :)

5 - We were sampling food at Costco, which is usually pretty good...except the dried seaweed. After tasting it, Mitchell said outloud to the lady serving it what we were all thinking "That is awful. That is disgusting." She got quite a chuckle out if his comment :)

6 - I was showing Mitchell pictures in my pregnancy book of what the baby looks like inside my tummy, all scrunched up. He said "Oh, that baby is going to be very cute!" I hope he's right!

7 - When Mitchell requests toys, we often get out of buying them by saying "put it on your Christmas list." He must be getting a little tired of waiting, because he recently asked "Do you think we could just buy a few things that are on my Christmas list?"

LOTS of family!

2011-07-24T22:33:00.000-05:00

I left all three boys (including Jacob) at home for a night this weekend and headed to Lincoln with my sisters and my Dad for a family wedding (my cousin Nate and his wife, Becky). It was really nice to catch up with everyone!

Here is a picture of some of my female cousins and my sisters and I. My Dad is one of 8 children, so there MANY MANY cousins!

My Dad and his three daughters....AND we continue to multiply! My sister, Kelli is pregnant too!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I could NOT be MORE excited! Motherhood is the most special thing I've ever experienced, and to be able to watch my sister also enjoy it will be so fun! Plus, Mitchell and Maverick will enjoy having a cousin on my side! Kel's due early March, so our babies will be 4 months apart. How fun to be pregnant at the same time too! (I've used a LOT of exclamation points in this paragraph...like I said, I'm excited!)

Jacob at the "K"

2011-07-18T07:23:00.000-05:00

Jacob got to go to a special Royal's batting practice on Friday afternoon. They invited the attendees to take turns batting and fielding.

Jacob played first base...looks like a true baseball player here!

They even put their names up on the Jumbotron!

He took two turns batting.

They toured the locker room and each of them had a locker with their nametag on it, with a bag, hat, shirt and water inside.

Jacob really enjoyed it :)

Hugs from Maverick

2011-07-18T07:16:00.003-05:00

Mitchell fell asleep on the couch the other day, and Maverick just couldn't stand not playing with him!

Moments later, we looked out and Maverick had crawled up onto the couch and was riding Mitchell like he rides Tex. Of course, Mitchell was woken up! We learned our lesson....next time, move Mitchell out of Maverick sight while sleeping!

Fourth of July in New Hampshire!

2011-07-11T23:36:00.002-05:00

Jacob's parents recently moved from Maine to New Hampshire, so our annual 4th of July trip took us to a new state this year! We were there for an entire week (hence the blog break), and had so much fun! It's always great to spend time with family!

Here is Mitchell with his two cousins, Reade and Riley. They played so well together, making Mitchell pretty easy to entertain on the trip.

Maverick was another story! He is such a busy body....inside, outside, up, down, cry, laugh. Needless to say, I was WORN OUT after chasing him around!

They live right on Lake Pleasant, so everyone enjoyed spending time in the water! Here is Maverick and I kayaking.

Jacob and Mitchell kayaking.

Mitchell and Riley were especially best buds on the trip. They were all suited up for their boatrides!

The kayak trip was too much for Maverick to handle. He fell sound asleep :)

The water trampoline got lots of action.

We enjoyed many campfires -- hotdog roasts by day, smores by night!

Here are all of the Folks/Flint grandkids (so far!)

Front row - Allie, Reade, Greyson and Maverick
Back Row - Mitchell and Riley

Maverick reminds us so much of his older cousin, Riley. They even share a birthday!

Mitchell enjoyed some sparklers with the other kids!

...and adults. Happy 4th of July!

We made a short trip a few hours north into the White Mountains and took the boys to Storyland Themepark. We all really enjoyed it! Here is Maverick and Jacob on the Dutch Shoe Ride.

Here are Jacob and Mitchell on the log ride!

Beware...Mitchell and Maverick at the helm!

I think Mitchell's favorite ride was the swan boats where he got to drive me around the lake.

Mitchell and Cinderella

Mitchell doing his impersonation of the Big Bad Wolf.

We stayed in a hotel for a night during our trip up to the White Mountains, and the hotel had a mini-water park which the boys LOVED. Here is Mitchell enjoying a dip in the pool. (This is my recent favorite picture of Mitchell) :)

Maverick and Daddy enjoyed the pool too!

Mitchell was a fan of the big water slides. He would've gone down them all day if we would've allowed!

Here he is going down one of the smaller slides...he liked the big ones better (surprise!)

Before heading back to Jacob's parents, we took a 8 mile drive to the top of Mount Washington, the tallest mountain in New Hampshire. The scenery was breathtaking!

Although we had a great trip, after 11 days away from home, we were all glad to be home!

Swim Lessons!

2011-07-11T23:25:00.000-05:00

Mitchell been a total fish in the water since he was tiny, but we finally enrolled him in his first sessions of swim lessons. He absolutely loved it :)

Here is his backfloat.

And a little video of his swimming skills.

Say Cheese!

2011-06-26T13:03:00.000-05:00

Maverick has learned to smile and say "cheese!" when he sees my camera.

Here he is posing while taking a bite of a hunk of cheese!

Think he knows he's eating something he shouldn't? Look at that devilish grin!

How Sweet!

2011-06-23T10:42:00.000-05:00

Our little Mitchell is all boy...rough & tough, dirty & adventurous...but he sure can be the sweetest little thing!

1 - We started swim lessons on Monday, along with about 30 other kiddos. Each teacher called the students for their class and the kids ran up front ready to swim! Mitchell ran up front when he heard his name, but then said "Wait, I have to tell my Mommy something." He bee-lined back to me in the crowd, threw his arms around me and said "I wanted to tell you that I love you." Then, he quickly turned on his heels and headed for the pool. What a sweatheart!

2 - I'm still working 2ish days a week at PwC (and am loving it!) When I got home from work yesterday, the boys were riding bikes in the driveway.

Mitchell - "Mom, you're home! Where did you get those work clothes?"
Me - "I bought them at the store, why?"
Mitchell - "Because you look BEAUTIFUL!"

Seriously, he is NOT learning this from Jacob!

3 - We finally saw our first fireflies/lightening bugs of the season on Tuesday night! Mitchell and I created a bug jar and set out on our hunt! We had so much fun tracking them down. He had no qualms about reaching out his little hands to try and gently grab them. We caught five or six, but as our hunt was winding down Mitchell decided to let all by one go. "Let's let them be free, Mommy." He kept one token firefly, which he justified in that he was "saving it from the rain". We've got an animal lover on our hands! :)

Happy Father's Day!!!

2011-06-20T04:46:00.000-05:00

We certainly got to spend some quality family time together on Father's Day as we drove the 5 hours home from Oklahoma!

Here is Daddy and his boys at a park that we stopped at on the way home to burn off some energy!

And just a few other shots of Jacob and the boys this month.

Maverick is a big fan of showering with Daddy!

And Mitchell LOVES to help him with yardwork!

They absolutely love playing Wii, and Daddy is the help resource! (Maverick's remote doesn't have any batteries in it...but he loves swinging it around at the TV anyway!)

We also had dinner with Grampy (my Dad). Aren't we lucky to have such great men in our lives? :)

2011 Folks Family Reunion

2011-06-20T04:35:00.000-05:00

We headed to Oklahoma for the annual Folks Family Reunion for the weekend. What a great trip :)

Granny was nice enough to house us for the weekend. Here we are below with Katy and Jordan too! (Jacob's sister and her fiance). Even the little dog, Mindy, made the family photo :)

The boys found lots of fun ways to entertain themselves at her house. Maverick played with her garden hose for hours one evening while Jacob and Mitchell went to see Kung Fu Panda.

The doggie door was the favorite toy of the weekend.

Monkey See

Monkey Do

Here is Maverick and Jordan at the reunion picnic.

Jacob and his sis at the picnic.

Jacob's Dad (David) and brother (Connor) from Maine/New Hampshire (they're moving) made the trip for the reunion. Although David has seven children (3 step-sons, 2 sons, 2 daughters), only two boys have the Folks last name (Jacob and Connor). Since Connor doesn't have kids yet (whew!), our boys are the only Folks name sakes thus far.....so here are the five Folks men.

Oh, the things they say....

2011-06-15T08:37:00.000-05:00

A few of my favorite quotes from Mitchell....

1 - "Mom, why is your bank a building, and mine is a pig?"

2 - Mitchell was swinging around a long stick in the park. When I asked him to set it down so that he didn't hit anyone, he responded "But then how am I going to save the Galaxy?"

3 - Maverick was crying in his carseat and Jacob said "Maverick, what is wrong?" Mitchell responded for him by saying "He is pitiful, Daddy."

4 - Mitchell threw a big fit when we were leaving an activitiy. When we got home, I talked with him about his behaviour and asked him nicely not to act like that anymore....to which he responded "I just want to throw one more fit tomorrow and then I'll be all done throwing fits!" I am happy to report that he did not throw a fit the next day (but he certainly has since!)

Mitchell continues to have a crazy vocabulary, he often uses words like "participate" or "disgusting" or "frustrated" or "dilemma", usually in the right context. He loves to talk about words that rhyme, opposites and synonms. It so fun to watch his little brain learn!

Debuting Baby #3

2011-06-06T21:16:00.000-05:00

Yes, you read correctly! Our crazy household is about to get crazier! Baby #3 is due November 12th (but Jacob's has high hopes of an 11/11/11 birthday).

We have decided not to find out the gender, and really hope we can actually stick with that decision this time! Mitchell is excited to have another sibling and Maverick obviously has no clue.

Although Maverick does seem to notice that my stomach looks different! My little cuddle bug Maverick loves to cuddle on my bare skin. Funny, kid! If I wear a scoop neck shirt, he'll pull it down enough to rest his whole head on my chest. When we're laying down, he loves to pull up my shirt and lay his head on my stomach. He did a double take of my stomach the other day like...this thing looks and feels different than normal. Just wait, kid!

I'm in my 17th week, and things are going great! I was lucky enough to have no morning sickness (thanks, Baby!) and I haven't been terribly tired either.

With both boys, I have started "showing" around 16 weeks, and it look like pregnancy #3 is following suit. I'm barely squeezing into select pieces of my regular wardrobe, but I finally pulled the tub of maternity clothes out of the attic yesterday.

I have been able to feel baby flutters for a long time (starting at 11 weeks, which seems early to me!), but no big kicks yet. I just looked back at my records from Maverick's birth and it looks like I felt his first kicks at 18 weeks, so we'll have to see what next week brings.

Week 14

Week 17

Oh, this poor little guy has no idea what's coming his way!

San Francisco!

2011-06-01T23:41:00.001-05:00

We took a family trip to San Fran for the holiday weekend, and had such a great time! Beware of picture overload below!

Jacob is in San Fran for work so the boys and I flew alone...something I was a little scared to do, but as usual...they pleasantly suprised me. I'd give them a 9 on both flights :)

Due to Jacob's reoccuring work project, we've been to San Fran and Napa area a few times in the last few years, so I wasn't sure we'd find new and different things to do...but we did!

We enjoyed the Acquarium. Most kiddos were little squeemish about dipping their hands in the water and actually touching the animals, but as you can see from the below video....not our boys. Mitchell thinks everyone he meets is immediately his friend, so he's trying to give the play by play of the contents of the fish tank to some "new friends".

Aren't the jelly fish beautiful? :)

Jacob did a wine tasing at a local winery. They offered non-alcoholic kid's tastsings too, which Mitchell LOVED. He requested to go back a few more times, but this was our only stop.

He did get to taste a few other things though....like some Ghiradelli host chocolate, complete with whipped cream.

I think Mitchell's favorite activity of all was the Exploratorium. A kid's paradise of all kids of hand on science exhibits. Their water fountains were in (unused) toilets!

San Fran is known for it's killer hills and we definitely walked our fair share. There was actually a group of girls that cheered at me as I pushed our stroller up one of the hills. They had left their kiddos at home and were doing a girls trip, so they had an appreciation for our struggles pushing 80 pounds up the killer hills!

One of the most popular sites in San Fran is Lombard Street...the curviest street in the world. Cars were lined up for blocks to drive down Lombard street and there is a huge crowd of people gathered around it (I can't imagine how annoying that is to the people who live on Lombard!)

Against my better judgement, Jacob talked me into letting him walk with the cars down Lombard pushing the stroller (or really holding tightly onto the stroller while walking down the steep slope). The cars have to go super slow due to the curves, so it didn't slow them down at all and quite a few spectators got a kick out of it. The boys were napping, so they were none the wiser!

Lombard from the top

Mitchell and the boys coming down Lombard.

We stayed at the same hotel (Sheraton Fisherman's Wharf) this trip as we did 2 years ago. The picture that I took of Mitchell in our bed with our pillow is still one of my favorites, so I needed one of Maverick to match!

Mitchell - 15 months

Maverick - 15 months

Mitchell's favorite part of the hotel room was the fold-out couch, which was his bed for the week.

Jacob "Mitchell, do you want to watch this couch turn into a bed?"

Mitchell "You mean it's a Transformer?"

He was all to happy to sleep in his transformer bed each night :)

You can't go to San Fran without riding a historic Cable Car!

The boys aboard the historic Cable Car (can you believe they are BOTH looking AND smiling?)

We burned off some steam at a beautiful inner city park/green space with a pretty waterfall.

Jacob and I toured the Museum of Modern Art one afternoon during nap time. The boys must've liked the peacefulness because they slept the entire time. One lady stopped me to tell us that she thought our stroller full of sleeping boys was the best exhibit in the entire museum. :)

Mitchell checking out the Bay Bridge.

Mav and Mommy at Pier 39

There was an area for the kids to drive a pretend street car at the Railroad Museum....both boys enjoyed it....Mitchell a little too much. We had to do a lot of coaxing to get him out of there!

He became best friends with the worker at the museum. They had many conversations about everything from cable cars to batman.

Conductor Mitchell

Jacob and Mitchell took a "Rocket Boat" ride in the Bay (you might be able to make them out in the middle, waving). Mitchell really enjoyed it and continued to talk about how no one (even the Flash) is fast enough to catch the Rocket Boat.

We enjoyed watching the (wild) Sea Lions that lay out along the docks on Pier 39. We even ate lunch at the Sea Lion Cafe, overlooking the Sea Lions. It was one of more challenging meals with the boys though, so we didn't enjoy the scenery as much as we'd like!

We ended the trip with a Bay Cruise! Here are the 4 of us in front of the Golden Gate Bridge.

Me: "Mitchell, do you see the Golden Gate Bridge?"

Mitchell: "I see a bridge, but I don't see any golden gates."

So true....

Mitchell brought along his fishing pole just in case...but we did catch a thing :(

I think Jacob threatened to take Maverick to Alcatraz (in the background) to illicit this response.

Here is Mitchell and Jacob at the Academy of Sciences Museum (the Zebras are stuffed).

Although some of us got more rest than others on the trip, we're all a little glad to be settled back in at home!

Thanks for the summer outfit, Gran!

2011-05-23T22:14:00.000-05:00

Maverick looks very handsome in it :)

(And, yes it should have both straps buttoned...we're not going for an 80's throwback look.)

Family Fun Weekend

2011-05-23T21:51:00.000-05:00

We had some friends in town visiting for the weekend (The Beller's). Jacob went to college with both Brent & Emily and they have two girls just slightly younger than our boys. We enjoyed a cookout on Friday night, a family picture session on Saturday morning, followed by a short trip to Deanna Rose and an adults only dinner out on Saturday. Here are a few of our family pics...it's rare to get all 4 of us in one photo!

Mitchell had lots of fun hanging out with Adeline. It's our turn to visit next in July!

Maverick the Sumo Wrestler

2011-05-16T23:27:00.000-05:00

Maverick definitely formed his own little personality....he is quite a character...definitely keeping our family entertained :)

Here is is imitating a Sumo Wrestler - a move he made up all on his own, we merely labeled it.

Interview with a 3 year old

2011-05-12T06:40:00.000-05:00

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lAwSAA38f8c

Take your pick

2011-05-12T06:28:00.000-05:00

Dirty Maverick (following a spaghetti dinner)

Clean Maverick (following a bath with his brother)

I love this photo below. They are so good at playing together (most of the time), but they are also such strong individuals too.

The happiest of Mother's Days!

2011-05-09T02:23:00.001-05:00

What a great Mother's Day! I literally got everything I wanted :) A little rest and relaxation (a NAP!), lots of time with my boys (all three of them) and a photoshoot of my favorite subjects (in our church's memorial garden before church). A pretty simple day, really....simply wonderful.

Oh, and Jacob got me a little point and shoot camera to carry in my purse. I absolutely love my big camera, but often find myself reluctunt to carry it (to the zoo, etc) because of it's size. I'm excited!

Ahhhh :)

Onery!

Mitchell was helping Maverick climb onto a rock. It might look a little strange if you didn't know what they were doing :)

Ahhh...finally a picture of them together where they are both smiling! Too bad Maverick's head is blocking Mitchell's a little...I'm never satisfied, huh? :)

I absolutely love this last picture. I'm not quite sure why, but I just think seeing Maverick in the background is so cute :) He was FASINATED with the waterfall...in fact, he tried to take a nose dive once. We had to get out of there before he was too wet to attend church!

Happy Mother's Day to all of the Moms out there...especially my Mom. She is the best Mom and Grandma! We love you!