Man, I am so not good with this blogging thing anymore. Life just gets kind of busy, you know? I know I need to be better at it...not for any other reason than the fact that this is my journal, and so without it there are a lot of great moments going unmentioned in the book of my life and the life of my kids. SOOOOO...as time is not on my side right now (I have to go make Cole's lunch and get him ready for school)....I will leave with a few photos/scrapbook pages from Halloween time. Yes, that's how far behind I am! lol (Actually I am even farther behind).
(click on them if you want to read the pages)
We did the Syracuse Pumpkin Walk, 2 different ward Trunk or Treats, did some Trunk or Treating at the mall while it rained, and then went Trick or Treating around our old neighborhood with friends.
Oh, and we can't forget "Spooky Hill" mini golfing at Cherry Hill.
Yes, Blake and Cole have their own little apartment. Really, it is just the finished basement equipped with a bathroom in our new (old) home. It was in really bad shape when we first moved in. Well, I guess not too bad...but by my standards is was. Dingy, dirty...definitely not a nice room to want to go to bed in. Sometimes I didn't even want to go down there (of course, I had to since that is where the laundry room is too). Their old bunk beds had seen better days (they had been taken apart and moved a few times) so we decided that they would get new beds. Of course, leave it to our cats, who were mad we left them alone for a week while we took a trip, to pee all over the boys mattresses, causing us to have to buy new mattresses too. So, I just decided that starting from scratch was a good thing. My whole thought process in doing their room (and still having to finish it up) is how I could do it as inexpensively as possible but still make it seem like it could be a room out of a magazine. (ok, I don't really know if I've come close to achieving the magazine look lol).
Here are a couple of pictures of when we first moved in. (I'm never good at taking "before" pictures...I always forget so this is as good as it gets!) Here we are walking down to their "apartment" from the family room. That rug is from IKEA and was only $17, but we already had it so really it was free:0) The curtains were $10 from Target and I will be painting a thin orange stripe down both sides of the panels to give it a little color and interest. We also got new faux wood white blinds because the other blinds were those cheapy mini blinds and were all messed up anyways.
This photo is of the bookshelves/mini desk that I made. We had two of the cheap particle board bookcases from walmart ($15 each, but since we already had them and were going to get rid of them anyway, we count that as free). I trimmed them out with pine boards, painted them and then added a board in the middle for a mini desk and for a "built-in" look. (the trim probably cost around $10 total) Eventually that white heater is coming out and there will be other things on the wall.
These are the boys beds (duh!). I made those corkboard headboards myself for $20 each using a couple of 1x4s and 12x12" corkboard squares. The bedding is very neutral because I want it to be able to go with other things if we decide to switch up paint colors down the road. (I am also in the middle of making a couple of throw pillows for their beds.) The dresser needed to be repainted which you can see in the next picture.
Here's the dresser repainted, but I'm also showing off the ledge shelves I built from scrap wood I already had (I love free!) This is the view looking back towards the stairs and the entryway to their bathroom.
another view...and that hallway wall coming down the stairs is going to have a collage photo wall. Anyways...there are still some things I want to do with it...Rome wasn't built in a day! But it's getting there and the boys love it. I'm also glad that I was able to make it look this good for little money!! The beds cost the most...they were $150 each, but they are storage beds so it was worth it. Check back soon for more updates on our house!
I've been wanting to delete my myspace for a while now but knew that I wanted to get my old blogs off of there from when I used it as my blog site instead of this. It was part of my journal and so I knew that I needed to keep them and reread them. So, I pretty much just copy and pasted them along with their dates to this blog and here are the links...I didn't realize I had written so many on there!
Ham, as in, Cole is such a HAM for the camera!! For your enjoyment and to get you in the holiday spirit...here is Cole's rendition of Rudolph:0) Enjoy! lol
To me, Blake and Cole will always be my babies. No matter how old they get, I will still see them as the tiny newborns that I held in my arms and stared at for hours. The babies I had to do everything for and lose precious sleep for. Of course, no matter how tiny I see them in my mind, they are getting older. Everyday I become more and more aware of that fact. The more friends they make, the easier it becomes for them to read and do homework, the less and less they need me to help them do things (which is sad in a way but also sort of freeing! lol) .... they are not my little babies anymore. Blake will turn 8 in June...JUNE!!! That's in 6 months! He will be baptized, he will get to start scouts, and then a couple of months later he will start the 3rd grade. I remember 3rd grade...i had a boyfriend in 3rd grade... a boyfriend that I kissed behind the big Tee-pee tent we made in our classroom when we were learning about native americans. How can I have a kid that old?! One that might eventually get seduced by a cute little 3rd grade girl with pigtails into kissing them behind the tee-pee!! And Cole is not that far behind him being only 16 months younger! My point is that they are growing and I can't stop it. I am no longer buying toddler toys for them, but things like Star Wars action figures and nerf guns. We no longer shop in the baby/toddler sections of the clothes isles. It's been full on "Boys" clothes for awhile now. (and let me tell you that I actually did tear up a little when I bought Blake his first shirt from the "boy" department where they are measured as S, M, and L). I want a way to remember those times when they were little, and for the boys to remember just how much I loved them (and still do) as they get older, become more independent and maybe start not liking me as much (one can hope that my teenage boys will still call me mommy and give me kisses right?). So, I decided to make a slide show for them of pictures of us together (and of course ones by themselves as they have grown). I did Blake's first, and hope to finish Cole's soon. It's not easy going through thousands of pictures... The song is "Godspeed" by the Dixie Chicks which used to always have me in tears every time I heard it. When I was pregnant with Blake and even when I was pregnant with Cole, I so hoped for a girl. I have always wanted a little girl, but I would never trade my boys for anything. They are my world. I love you little men!!
**Disclaimer- there are many photos in here I put in that normally I would not want people to see of me, but I did it because my boys were cute!**
**also...for some reason the ending photo and words got cut off so I have to go back and redo it.**
So, the hard part about taking a blogging break is coming back and not knowing if I should just start out new, or if I should try and post about everything that has happened the last few months I've been away. I think tonight I will just start out with the present since I am about to go write my lesson for Relief Society and that needs my full attention! ( I won't get into how scared I am to teach Relief Society...it is only my second time and although i didn't break down crying the last time, I think it might be possible this time! lol)
Every Christmas we head down to Temple Square to see the lights and to help the boys remember that Christmas is about the birth of Jesus Christ. I think we've done pretty well over the years intermingling the secular traditions with the spiritual traditions. Our kids are very aware of the fact that there is a reason why it is called CHRISTmas. But, I also LOVE how their faces light up when they receive a video message from Santa, sit on his lap and talk with him or receive presents. It's magical. Everything about Christmas is magical. I love to sit on the couch by the lit up tree late at night when it is quiet and just think and dream and ponder. It is beautiful and I can't imagine a Christmas without the soft lights, the hot cocoa, the Christmas carols and families around the TV watching cheesy movies about Santa! It is my favorite time of year!! It is also the hardest time of year...Last year especially...when the season seems so magical, it's hard not to get caught up in the fairy tale. Christmas time is supposed to be perfect. Miracles are supposed to happen. Now, i know that miracles happen everyday, but for a family that has been waiting years for another child, we get our hopes up more this time of year...hoping, that by some miracle, we will have our new little one by Christmas. (and a reminder that last year, when it was supposed to happen, it didn't). I'm a dreamer, and so it's not uncommon that before I fall asleep at night I have vivid imaginations of getting a call the night before Christmas about a baby being born at that moment that will be coming to our family. I know of people it has happened to and can only dream that it will happen to us too. I know it's not reality, and I know that more often then not it doesn't happen that way...but hey, this is Christmas after all, the season of miracles. Can't I at least dream?
Either way, I am so thankful for the children that I do have. They are my greatest blessings. They wear me out and drive me crazy A LOT but I can't imagine them not being a part of me.
This handsome little guy turned 7 today! Luckily we had his party Tuesday night when it was NOT raining. (It rained last year on his birthday too). Party pics to come later. Love you Mr. Man!!
Not only was it Blake's last day of 1st grade...it was also his last day at Crestview.
I think I am just as sad as he is.
A lot of the teachers and aides there knew about his autism and were always so sweet and helpful with him. The principal knew him well and of course he had good friends that he had made over the past 2 years. I am worried about him being able to make new friends at his new school so it was a tough decision for me whether or not to have him switch schools or to just drive him back to Layton everyday. In the end though, I decided to move him, because we are now in the home that he will grow up in and I really want him to be able to make friends with kids who live around us and hopefully they will be able to see past his differences.
on his way to his last day of first grade
Friends waiting for the bell to ring Penelope, Morgan, Carson, Blake and Jordan
Blake, Emily, Morgan and Lizette. (There were only like 10 students in class that day) Blake LOVES Emily...he wants to marry her and says that her last name will be Bias when they get married! lol So dang cute!!
Blake's school always has a carnival right before summer vacation. Well...at least they have the past 2 years he has been there. We didn't end up going last year and he would NOT let us miss it this year. So I braced myself for the heat and the expenditure of lots of money on sugar and cheesy "rides". The boys had so much fun and it was kind of Blake's last hurrah with his friends from Crestview Elementary. When he starts 2nd grade in August he will be going to a new school closer to our new home...part of him is happy for something new, and part of his is sad to be leaving the friends he has gotten to know over the past two years. At least he ended the school year on a great note!
(This is about as far as both boys ended up climbing....we will have to work on their rock climbing skills)
Blake and Max- Gladiators!!
Cole and Tyson- his blue lips are from the snow cone...not his emo lifestyle! lol
How can you tell when a kid is enjoying his food?
when most of it ends up in his lap!
Brothers...
Blake and Brooklyn...the sweetest girl who has looked out for Blake a lot. Xander and Blake Cole, Carson, Xander and Blake
"We are lean, mean 2nd graders now!!!" Yep, Blake will definitely miss his friends.
"Women of God can never be like women of the world. The world has enough women who are tough; we need women who are tender. There are enough women who are coarse; we need women who are kind. There are enough women who are rude; we need women who are refined. We have enough women of fame and fortune; we need more women of faith. We have enough women of greed; we need more goodness. We have enough vanity; we need more virtue. We have enough popularity; we need more purity."Margaret D. NadauldEnsign, Oct. 2008, pg 67
CLICK TO READ THE ARTICLE: "THE GIFT OF ADOPTION"!
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