Awesome give-away!

Check out my sister's health and fitness blog http://fabulouslyfitwithfive.blogspot.com/. She's got a really great give-away going on right now! With just a few more months left to go with this pregnancy I'm gearing up for another round of "battle with the body" and losing the extra weight. She's a big inspiration and help for me to do that...and you'd think that having the same genetics would mean I could have her abs too...!
Check it out! Fabulously Fit With Five

homemade halloween

I haven't really decorated my house for halloween before and I decided I would start this year! I want my kids to be excited about different traditions and holidays, but they don't ever really know what's going on 'cause I'm too grinch-like to take the time to decorate usually! All I can think is....'but I'm just going to have to take it all down in a few weeks and pack it away again...'!

So, I decided to make as much of the halloween decor as I could...I'm not that great with this kind of stuff so it was a little frustrating and challenging because I just wanted stuff to be done! But, I'm pretty happy with what we have this year...and even better; a lot of it can get thrown away rather than packed!

I made the halloween clock, "boo blocks", and apothecary jars (that was a ward 'super saturday' craft this year) and a few other things around the house. I had the boys color and glue together pumpkin faces on some paper plates to make a garland for the fireplace and they loved that! Chase loves turn on the spotlight over the mantle and talk about his halloween pumpkins he made.

And...it wouldn't be a real homemade halloween if I didn't make the boys' costumes too! So...pics to come as soon as I'm done (I had to start early enough to make sure there was time to go to the store if the costumes don't work out!)

school days are here!

Chase started pre-school this year and so far he absolutely LOVES it! We were really nervous about how he would do and if it would be a huge waste of money, but it's been the best thing for all of us so far! He FINALLY decided to cooperate with potty-training, weeks before school started (good thing too, because the registration fee was non-refundable and we had to send in the first month's tuition too!) and he's done great ever since (took him long enough!).

Little brother is a little jealous he doesn't get to go too. Ever time we have to drop Chase off and pick him up, Bennett gets upset that he can't stay. Next year little one!

Chase loves his back-pack and his favorite thing to do on pre-school days is to pick out his snack and pack it in his back-pack! We even had his name put on his back-pack and it makes him feel very special!

We're so glad he loves pre-school and grateful he gets to have the experience it provides! We really wanted him to be in an environment where he could play with other kids his age or older and learn to cooperate in a group and with someone other than his parents telling him what to do!

He's also been doing great at church in Sunbeams and that's all thanks to his AWESOME teachers! Sis. Brock is AMAZING with him and that has made all the difference in how he acts and does at church now!

skirts and bows and painted little toes!

So we are expecting baby #3 in early February and we were quit surprised to find out its a girl! Chase has been telling us from the beginning that it was a girl and he even offered to let us name her "Chase" (so thoughtful of him) ;) But, we really weren't counting on it!

I'm about 23 weeks now and over all the sickness, just really tired...but I can never tell if that's from the pregnancy or the 2 toddler boys, probably both!

I really didn't think I would have a little girl, and now that I am I've gone way girly! I'm not usually into frills and girly-girl stuff, but somehow that's where my tastes have gone lately when it comes to the baby stuff! Probably to make up for all the cars, trucks and superheroes I've been surrounded with!

As for her name...

I first heard the name on a show we really like, and thought it was interesting. Both our boys have family names and I kinda wanted to keep that going. For Christmas, my mom gave each of us kids a family history book she'd compiled with tons of geneology including pictures and stories. While looking through that I discovered this same name way back in the family line - that made me instantly like it that much more! I don't expect everyone to like it, but TOUGH! ;)

We're excited to meet Temperance Elizabeth in less than 4 months!