Where Are We Now?

So, let's just say I took "maternity leave" from the blog world. Apparently having a baby took a whole lot more work than I remembered. Let's just do a brief catch up of the past year and a half. Sweet Miles Ray entered the world January of 2011. He was welcomed with open arms from his big brothers, aunties, uncles & grandparents. He has been the easiest baby by far, and I think a lot of it has to do with our abundance of "experience" and maybe the Lord knowing what our family needed! Our other baby, Gunner, turned out to be a great addition too. Josh trained him pretty well, although he still goes through a spontaneous rebellion every now and then {hole digging or toy snatching}. He has done good with the boys but amazingly well with Miles, to my surprise and relief! He has been super gentle with him and pretty much let's Miles have his way with him... probably because of the plethora of snacks Miles feeds Gunner.
   We took a road trip last summer to visit family and friends in Oregon, Washington & Idaho. It was quite the trip with 4 boys plus dog. We had so much fun, made plenty of memories along with life experiences. We saw so many beautiful landscapes, places that seemed no man had ever set foot. Just God & country. It was a trip we will never forget and look forward to doing it again this summer! We came home in time for our two oldest to start school, in 1st grade & Kindergarten. This year has flown by as they only have 2 weeks left!
   In the fall I became an Auntie to my first niece! Aubrey came into the world and graced us with her beauty. She is seriously the most beautiful baby girl, and it's not because I'm a proud Auntie! She is loved by all, especially all her boy cousins :)  
   Christmas time was a blast and crazy busy. I take it the rest of our life will be crazy busy so I should just expect it right? We had fun visiting both sides of the family. That has always been a huge blessing to have both of our parents close by. It makes the holidays busy but I'm so grateful! We were able to stay in a cabin in Big Bear with the rest of the Ball clan after Christmas and it was a blast! Luckily there was just enough snow for the boys to play in & make a couple snowmen.
   Then January rolled around again, and it was time to celebrate all the birthdays, including Miles' 1st! We had a month of sickness passed around our home more than once. We had another anniversary and Mitchell's 4th birthday. I always hear people say" enjoy these years"..."they grow up fast"... and seriously it's so true! I look at other women I know with grown children that are going away to college or getting married and find myself thinking they were in my place at one point going through life just like me. The older these little guys get the faster life blows by. I seriously can't imagine them getting bigger, growing facial hair and wearing clothes that just look too big for my babies ... and then leaving me!? So here I am sitting here, remembering how little they were when they were brand new, looking at pictures old and new, watching them grow before my eyes.. and enjoying every crazy moment.
This past year has been a year of growth for me. There have been life experiences I never expected, good and bad. Things that have led me to reach for the Lord more than ever. Things that have molded & shaped me into a stronger person. I can look back and say we did this, this, this and that... but what has impacted me most were the things that happened to me and my family. The things I didn't plan and expect. I just pray that I always keep life in perspective and can show my boys how to love God & love others. Because that's all that really matters in the end.

Another Year More Wonderful

It's my wonderful hubby's 29th birthday! Where does the time go? We had our first date 9 years ago, and look at us now- married 7.75 years with 3 boys, a dog, a mortgage and another bambino on the way! As fast as these years have gone I couldn't imagine going through it without this amazing man the Lord chose for me. I can't put into words what he is to me. It's just that feeling in the depths of my soul every time I am near him or apart, when he opens my car door or kisses my forehead... and when he leaves his big ol' boots in the walkway for me to trip over! In the
good and the bad I can't help but to love this man more and more. I thank the Lord for giving me such an amazing partner to share this crazy life with!

Unfortunately he is away working in Malibu ALL day so the boys and I made cupcakes and sang "Happy Birthday" to him last night. But what I'm really, really, REALLY looking forward to is our overnighter date night tomorrow! Grammy & Gramps will have the boys for 24 hours and I'm so excited to wake up on my own schedule and go out to (and enjoy) breakfast and sip my coffee in the quiet...ahh it's amazing what you begin to truly enjoy after having kids!

I've always loved this picture with Baby Taylor... I think he would be great with a daughter! 

♥ ♥ ♥

He's such an outdoorsman. Sometimes I think he should've been born out in the country!

Teaching them young!

This is my favorite picture! It shows what a fun dad he is with these boys of ours =) And that he's up for the adventure, right? But where will he fit #4?

Happy Birthday my love!

So apparently I've abandoned my blog. Luckily with a blog you can do that, not so much with your husband or children! Which is the main reason I haven't found the time to get in touch. But with all things in life you have to make it a priority, right? So for a brief catch up, here's what's been going on since hunting season started.

It literally took me a month to rid of all the bird feathers around the house from Josh's hunting excursions. I still have some left over breasts, wings and whole birds in the freezer. Josh "needs" them to train Gunner, our new pup (more on him soon!) with the dead, frozen birdies. Bleh. I only cooked the dove once, in a rice casserole type dish. It wasn't so bad at all, but still hard for me to bear being pregnant. I have no desire to cook up any more game for the time being. Here's a few pictures from hunting season:

Mason's First Field Trip

Mason had his first class field trip to Riley's Apple Farm in Oak Glen. I was able to go as a parent chaperone =) I was in charge of a group of 5 fun kindergartners, and we had a blast. I think the kids were most excited to ride the school bus though! At my age, I'm sorry to say the big yellow bus has lost it's novelty. We went on a hay ride and talked about different trees, berry bushes and vines. The kids got to help make their own apple cider in an old cider press, take a tour in an old log cabin and visit with some goats and turkeys.

Please won't you be my neighbor? 
We got a few new neighbors in September. Two families who we love! Our good friends the Gunns, we can literally see in their family room if their windows are open! Don't worry, we are NOT peeping toms, er balls. We don't want to scare away our friends! The other family happens to be the parents of another neighbor family, the Hackbarth's. Mark Hackbarth married Josh and I seven years ago, and we truly love their whole family like our own. I don't think any of us could have dreamed up having so many wonderful friends be neighbors! Sometimes I wonder what God's plan is for this little area we call home =)

Miramar Air Show

                                                                      

In the beginning of October we went to San Diego to visit Uncle B & Auntie Amber, and to see the Miramar Air Show. It was a fun little weekend of family, watching baseball and yummy food. Josh and I first went to that air show 5 years ago with a 2 month old baby Mason! We decided to see the 

Twilight Show, it starts at dusk and they show off 

the after burners of the jets. There was a huge robotic dinosaur that breathed fire, and a jet engine truck that blew out ginormous flames. Perfect entertainment for our pyro boys! They loved it and can't wait to go back to the "airport show". We finished off the weekend with a stop at Yogurt Mill- a must do on our San Diego visits if we have time!

We had three Super Mario Brothers for the Harvest Festival at church. 

Mason & Micah love playing the game on the Wii, 

Mitchell could care less so he didn't really have a say ;) 

All in all their outfits turned out good, they can wear them again 

and their mustaches were so fun on their little faces!

PUMPKINS!

I decided I wanted to try making my own pumpkin puree this year. I used three small pumpkins and one large pumpkin. It was a lot of work but it made a ton of puree. One small pumpkin made enough puree to make about one and a half pumpkin pies, just to give you an idea! Overall it was fun to do, and now I can say I've made my own pumpkin puree but nothing beats the conveniency of having canned pumpkin on hand. =)

Here are the recipes I used with the pumpkin puree:

Pumpkin Pie  .  Pumpkin Muffins  .  Pumpkin Butter

My sweet middle child (for now), Micah, just celebrated his 4th birthday! Can you believe it??

He has been counting down his birthday for the past month. Finally the day drew near and we took the whole family to Knott's Berry Farm to celebrate with Snoopy. He loved it. Grammy, Gramps and all three aunties joined in on the fun as well as cousin Braiden. There were no lines at all so the boys ran threw all their favorite rides over and over and over! They slept pretty good that night =) We had my parents over for pizza and cupcakes on his actual birthday. He opened all the toys he picked out at Toys R Us with my mom the day before, haha. It's sort of the birthday tradition with Nani for each boy's birthday, they love it!

I've taken on a few craft projects in the past months. Unfortunately I seem to have this problem where I start a project and cannot seem to finish it. It's so sad and depressing. I now have 4 unfinished projects. and they all have to do with decorating! I started with trying to make my own fall topiaries. Crafting is a little more challenging for me, I'm very visual and it takes me a while to get the whole idea together. So I only have one topiary finished, of a set of two..except the boys have knocked it over a few too many times and leaves and moss are everywhere. It's more of a half dead topiary. Plus I'm realizing it's not very puppy friendly either.

I also sewed pillow covers for some throw pillows for my couch. I wanted to make them removable so I can change the pillows for different seasons, but because of my lack of skill/knowledge/motivation they remain unfinished. I started sanding a window paned mirror to re-paint. It remains partially sanded. I bought a plain wreath just waiting to be decorated for fall. Maybe it'll be ready for Christmas. Or next Spring! I'm just awesome at not finishing projects. Someday I'll have pictures to post of my finished projects, but until then...life goes on! 

Our most recent family update is the addition of a new family member. His name is Gunner, he's 8 weeks, and he has the best puppy breath! I'll have a post about him in the near future, promise!

 

The Week of the Birthday

Mason just recently turned 5. My how time flies!
Here he is on the day he was born. Monday, August 15, 2005, just hours old.

Then he turned into a one year old.

And then a two year old...

And then a three year old...

And then a four year old...

And now a five year old.

This is probably the first year Mason had an idea of what he wanted for his birthday, what he wanted to do, how many days left until he was 5...etc. One of the big things he really wanted to do was go camping in Big Bear, where Nani & Papa (my parents) stay for the summer. So we went up the weekend before his birthday and had so much fun! Our good friends, the Gunn's, came up for the day Saturday to get away from the desert heat and hang out with us. We took the boat out on the lake and let the boys have a little fun tubing. It was their first time tubing and they all loved it, I was very impressed with how brave they all were.. because even if I wasn't pregnant, I would be too chicken to go! Marni was brave enough for the both of us and took her turn on the tube. She did great... and even got some air! Mason was the only boy who fell off the tube (with Daddy of course) and he handled it like a champ! Those swimming lessons really helped his comfort level in the water. My sister met us up there with my nephew for dinner and cake and we really just had so much fun. It was wonderful weather with wonderful people! The night before Mason's birthday I kissed him goodnight and said "This is your last day as a 4 year old. You're going to wake up tomorrow and be 5!" He just lit up. I don't think he realized it was literally the next day, and neither did I! I admit it got me a little me teary-eyed thinking about my boys growing up right before my eyes. What do you do? I can't freeze them in time lol! So I just try to enjoy every moment I can while they're little, and say things funny, and ask for help with everything, and take a ton of pictures for when I forget how little and cute they were! So the next day we all woke up, had chocolate chip pancakes per request of the birthday boy, and went to church. We had lunch at Red Robin with Grammy & Gramps (Josh's parents). We realized we've had 3 birthday meals for the boys at Red Robin for the boys so it must be a tradition in the making =) Later that night after church we had a casual get together for cake and ice cream (one last time!) with friends and grandparents.. it was his actual birthday after all ;) Chocolate cake and Mint Cookie Crunch Ice cream (from Dreyers) has been his personal fave and I'm right there with him! That's my boy! All in all it was a great "week" of celebrating Mason. We had fun treating him extra special and loving on him. And I enjoy having a whole week to cope with my baby turning another year older =) Here are some moments captured of our fun filled week!

Getting ready for his first tube ride with Daddy

Party pooper on the boat!

 Mitchell woke up when he realized there was actual fun on the boat!

He really loved it!

Best buds Hunter & Mason

Micah taking a turn with Kevin

A little stop at Bass Pro Shop on our way down the mountain

Lunch at Red Robin. Mason was showing off how "strong" he is as a 5 year old!

Spoons all over the place!

Brothers

He loves chocolate just like his Mama

More cake & ice cream with friends... it doesn't get better than this!