Happy 1st Birthday Scoty Jones!

Our Scotland celebrated his first b-day on Thursday (and Friday). His birthday meal consisted of one of my favs, since he's too young to have an opinion and eats pretty much anything- Honey-lime chicken enchiladas. Both the older boys have their own special animal that they play with so we wanted to get one for Scoty also. The brothers picked out a giraffe and Scotland loved it! He kept hugging it and smiling. It was really cute.

Scot is allergic to eggs, so making his birthday cake was somewhat of a challenge. Someone said that sour cream would make the cake just as moist and yummy as eggs, but they were wrong! Poor guy- he just threw his cake on the floor, but he did enjoy the blueberries. We just had to keep Eli away because he kept sneaking up and snatching the berries.

Good Times and Nasty Pizza

This was all German's own idea: the parking lot at the airport (get it? all the levels of parking.) He aborted the plan after Scotland caused an earthquake and none of the cars would hold still!

We treated the boys to some fun at Peter Piper Pizza (luckily we had a coupon for free pizza, because it was far less than desirable to eat!) They had a blast! Doesn't Scot's face look great? I think he really enjoyed being one of the guys.

What we've been up to...

Here you go dad- a couple pictures of our house and a few of our boys:




We started packing our stuff and children about mid-May and finally closed the last week of May. Since then our time has been spent unpacking and mostly repairing a less than functional sprinkler system.

Our house has three of these niches (in varying sizes), which I think are way cool, but I have nothing interesting to put in them, except children, so time will tell what happens there.

Also, this 'yard' looked beautiful when we walked the house in May, but the June heat and lack of sprinklers make it look like a weed mess- it kind of depresses me. So, if you have any ideas please submit them. There will be no prize given, but entries are greatly appreciated. (This message goes out specifically to Stephanie W. - I hope you still check my blog!)

We're New Home Owners!

We signed and sealed the deal this last week and the move began. I won't lie and say it has been an easy move, but I will say that I should have shelled out for a nanny! Oh well. Now we're trying to unpack and figure out what in the world is up with our sprinkler system and freezer that won't freeze. We kind of think the previous owners wanted the home that they loved and cared for for 25 years to go to pot fast, so they sabotaged it right before leaving - or maybe that home warranty might actually come in handy! Anyways, we love the house. Maybe my favorite part is that the boys' rooms stay dark in the morning and they all sleep until at least 7am! These pictures were taken by the previous owners with all of their stuff in it. I'd post pictures with our stuff in it, but all you'd see would be boxes and toys on the floor and dying grass in the yard. Don't worry neighbors, we're working on the grass situation.

We're Proud Parents Again!

What a wonderful Mother's Day surprise! As we were eating our breakfast Joshua noticed some movement in the jar and we were able to watch as our darling Gravy came out of his (or her) chrysalis and was in fact a beautiful butterfly. However, not all creatures are born with perfect bodies and neither was our Gravy. He (or she) has one wing that did not develop fully, which inhibits his (or her) flight. Should we still send it out into the wild? We don't know.

The Annual Camping Trip

Fun times were had by all! This was Scotland's first campout and I would not say he loved sleeping, but he did love to eat the dirt and play with the kids. He spent much of his time in his high chair. Next time will be much better because he should be able to walk by then. Madison led the boys in all sorts of animal games and joined Joshua and German on a hike up a steep mountain. Thankfully, Treasure did not go into labor!

Our First Family Pet... Gravy

Week 1

Week 2

Last week we were given the opportunity of raising one very fine caterpillar. Since his adoption into our family he has grown tremendously and has officially begun the process of growing his chrysalis (formerly known as a cocoon). We'll post more pictures as he (or she) continues to transforms and eventually, in about 10-13 days, becomes a beautiful butterfly.

Note to mothers: this is really the ideal pet. It is self contained in this little plastic cup - no feeding, no poop to clean up, and you don't even have to change it's water. Plus, in two weeks we say our good-byes and he flies away to go and find more of his kind. I love an easy commitment! Oh yeah, can you guess what I was preparing as we named this little darling?

Eli Takes the Next Big Step...

Last weekend Scotland and I flew to SLC with one of my old companions, Summer, and her baby. We attended the funeral of our mission president's wife, Sister Harker. Although the occasion was not a party, it was really nice to see some old friends and catch up them. I also got to spend some good time with my brother and sister and their families and Josh's parents. But the best part about the whole trip was coming home to a toilet trained Eli! I have the greatest husband ever! (Sorry, no pictures of Eli on the toilet.)

Here's the Update...

Easter Morning

We decided to send the boys on a little hunt for their Easter baskets this year. Scot was just excited to find eggs with jelly beans inside to shake, Eli was the fastest to discover the chocolate, and German was his usual responsible self in spacing out the amount of candy consumed! I love these characters.

Easter Hunt and Pageant

We held our 2nd annual Easter Goodie Hunt and this year added an outing to the Easter Pageant held at the Temple here in Mesa. We enjoyed seeing our friends- it had been way too long!

This last photo is us with Elder Kunz- We searched for Kira's brother and found him! We were so excited to call and surprise Kira.

Decorating Easter Eggs

We found an egg kit that had a lot of fun things to decorate with and we really took a long time decorating them. By the way, regular old food coloring works just as well as any kit!

Family Vacation - California

We started off our trip visiting Oak Glen, an old Hallberg family tradition, and then going to Disneyland with Aunt Terra. We had so much fun at Disneyland! Eli has told me about five times that he really misses Mickey Mouse- Funny guy!

We headed to Bakersfield to spend time with my mom's side of the family to honor my Granny in a memorial service after her recent death. We enjoyed spending time with Uncle Don and Aunt Shirley.

The last leg of our trip was spent in Arcadia with the Lees and the Mosses. It was so good to see Jennifer and her boys- it had been a really long time.

Is He Color Blind?

Eli is determined not to learn his colors. When I hold up two objects that are identical, except for color, he always guesses that the color is yellow- unless one of the objects really is yellow, then he usually throws out orange as his guess. It's almost like he won't learn them on purpose, because we are always mentioning and pointing out things of like colors. He likes to keep us on our toes.

I Love to Hear What They'll Say Next

German has the greatest ideas! He frequently suggests smart ways of doing things (like teaching Joshua how to get the refried beans out of the can "the way my mom does it") or asks us fabulous questions. Tonight he asked, "Dad, when I turn to be 7 will you get me a man's toolbox?"

Such a Happy Boy...

Scotland loves to smile and laugh. He gives some of the greatest hugs. We all love having this boy in our family. This picture is of him feeding himself his oatmeal cereal, since he rarely lets me feed him anymore.

Sick Little Eli

Poor guy! I won't go into too many details, but the poor guy started vomiting in the car and was stuck in his car seat and couldn't lean forward to get out of the mess- so sad. Then I got him all cleaned up and he had another incident, followed by a few more as the evening progressed. I only mention all that to explain these photos of the boy. He kept telling us that he "didn't want to burp anymore." Like we had some control over the matter! He spent much of the evening sitting in the kitchen sink with his hands over his mouth, to keep in whatever might need to come out. Such a sweet boy!

What to do When Mom Steps Out of the House

I went out the other night for a little 'mom-time' and came back to find all three boys in bed and the house picked up - what a nice husband I have. I was shown this picture and an accompanying video of the boys and their slide. It reminded me of The Cat in the Hat. (Remember? Thing 1 and Thing 2 come in and make the mess, but they miraculously have it all cleaned up before mom steps in the door!)

A Few Thoughts...

1. Sorry, still no post-worthy footage of Scot crawling, but don't worry mom, I'm working on it.

2. We had our first discussion at the dinner table about chicken being made from an actual chicken and how it used to be alive doing chicken things. German asked what we thought was a great question, "Why does the chicken not say 'ouch' when we eat it?"

3. A suggestion: Find yourself 3-4 friends who have similar family sizes and food preferences as you and form a dinner swap/group. Three friends and I spent an afternoon together doing our usual thing- talking, visiting, disciplining children, etc, except that we each brought 4x the amount of ingredients for a recipe and then we prepared those meals and divided them out. I went home having spent the afternoon with friends and carrying four meals ready to be placed in my freezer- that was very fulfilling.

Scotland is a Crawler!

Our boy has been on his knees for about a month now, but has only been able to move by turning and rolling - until tonight! Scot totally skipped the army crawl and just started moving tonight. He turned 7 months yesterday and has proved to be our earliest crawler!