Bath Time!

Okay, so the second child really does get the shaft in pictures, even in this age of digital! We haven't taken many pictures lately, but these were too cute and I don't think we have many of Matthew in the bath tub. The boys LOVE bath time - Matthew gets so excited when he hears the bath water being run and he starts to get undressed! If these boys could stay in the bath tub for hours they'd be thrilled! This was the first time Matthew had experienced bubbles and he wasn't so sure about them at first, but after some exploration he enjoyed them.

A Little Blast from the Past

Joshua has been very into drawing, coloring, cutting, gluing and just generally creating the last few months. We've gotten a few new things to keep the interest going, but then I remembered a wonderful toy I used to have when I was a kid - Fashion Plates! You put the "plates" of a model wearing a different shirts, skirts, pants, etc into a tray, put a piece of paper over it and rub a crayon on the paper to transfer the image. I used to spend hours doing it! My brothers even had a boy's version where they could make different monsters and heroes. My brother dug them out of storage at my dad's house so that Joshua and the girl I watch after school could use them. Joshua LOVES this activity! He has even created his own book of monsters, which he also named. So glad my mom was smart enough to save these unique toys - now the next generation is getting use out of them!

A few too many of my favorites . . .

As you can see we finally got around to having pictures taken of Joshua and Matthew as well as lots of family shots. It was a beautiful, sunny, warm day, but pretty windy so the photographer had to be creative in where she positioned us. It's always frustrating trying to get kids to smile on command and this was one of those occasions. Joshua is still in the stage of having a cheesy grin plastered on his face and Matthew hates the wind in his face so his smiles weren't very abundant. After an hour and over 160 pictures later we thought we'd have very few that we would even like, however we were pleasantly surprised by the end results. Now to choose the pictures we want to order. . . that will be a whole other ordeal! (Sorry about the small size of the photos on the slide show, but I didn't want to upload 20+ photos for one post - you can see them a bit bigger individually on facebook)

November 16, 2005

Even four years later the date November 16 and what happened is still fresh in my mind - my dear mother drew her last breath on this earth and went to live with her Heavenly Father. It's still not easy. It just plain stinks not having my mother, supporter, encourager and best friend around! I still wish I could pick up the phone and call her for advice, especially when it comes to raising my boys (she always had such creative ideas for dealing with children and their many issues). I wish she could see Joshua and Matthew and smother them with love, attention, hugs and kisses. She would have loved their smiles, laughter, individual personalities and even their naughty ways. I wish she was here to be my support and encouragement on those rough days. I wish I could ask her about how I was when I was little in comparison to my little guys. The list goes on and on and on and on. Not a day goes by when she isn't thought of or remembered. Joshua and I talk about Nana in heaven many a day. She is still loved and cherished. I'm thankful that she is in a better place and her suffering came to an end, but I still miss her so much it hurts and the tears still flow. Someday we'll be back together. . . some day. . . .

A little bit of change. . .

I like to blog about my kids and our family, but not usually about myself and I'm usually the one behind the camera instead of in front of it, but not for this post. My hair has been boring me as of lately and it's been the same style for quite some time, but I had no ideas for how to change it. Yesterday I went to get my haircut with the normal trim in mind, but when my hair dresser asked what we were going to do with a gleam in her eye I asked her what she had in mind. Keep in mind this the hairdresser I've been going to since I was in elementary school so over the years she has gotten to know when I'm ready for a change. She asked how short I was willing to go . . . immediately I had a flashback to a really short style I had in middle school that I ended up hating. I informed her that I wasn't ever going back to really short hair and then she explained what she had in mind. I let her do her thing and ended up really liking the results! It's more of an edgy look although still simple and workable - can be worn down, pulled up or tucked behind my ears. It's a welcome change for me, but when I got back home Cory said, "what did you do?" Joshua looked and me and said "huh?" Matthew just stared at me with a worried look on his face until he figured out it was me. Not exactly the reactions I was looking for, but I guess not everyone was ready for a little change.

Big brothers are too funny

I have probably mentioned it before, but Matthew finds Joshua very amusing! We've been trying to capture Matthew laughing on video for quite some time, but I'm not always quick enough. I finally got a good video of Matthew yesterday thanks to Joshua. Everyday after lunch Joshua likes run around the kitchen island and sneak up and tickle Matthew or hide under the tray of the highchair and play peek a boo with Matthew and Matthew gets into these fits of giggles he laughs so much!

Matthew's Baptism

Today we had the great honor of celebrating Matthew being baptized! We had put off having him baptized until our church had moved to the new building, or was it just that life has been so busy we had put his baptism on our list of things to do, but hadn't gotten to it until now. Either way, today was the day. We gathered at church with our family this morning and Pastor Brad baptized Matthew. This was the first baptism at the new church so they were still trying to figure things out, but it went off without a problem. Matthew did well, mostly staring at the water that was about to be put on his head with a look of curiosity. Joshua stood up there with us and while the baptism was being done Joshua kept saying, "I think he likes it" meaning Matthew liked the water on his head. Unfortuately our camera's batteries ran out during the baptism so we didn't get many pictures. We continued the celebration by going back to our house for lunch with our family after the service. I had a friend of mine, the same one who has made all of Joshua's birthday cakes, make a cake to celebrate Matthew's baptism and she did a fabulous job! We are so thankful that God gave us the gift of Matthew and we pray we can share with him our faith and help him grow his own faith.

Standing at the front of church ready to have Pastor Brad baptize Matthew.

Pastor Brad introduces Matthew to our church family.


Trying to pose a 6 1/2 month old with a cake is not the best idea.

Matthew's certificate of baptism and his celebration cake.

The cake was awesome - a gift box with a tag that read Matthew "A Gift From God" (the meaning of his name)

Happy Halloween!

We started our evening out with a Jack-O-Lantern pizza (from Papa Murphy's) which Joshua was excited about. After a quick dinner it was off to get the boys dressed in their costumes with as many layers as possible underneath as we were trekking out in the cold and wind. My brother came with me and the boys trick or treating while Cory manned the door at home. We found it's a bit quiet as far as there not being tons of trick or treaters in our neighborhood. We also found that people were crazy generous in the amount of candy they handed out, I'm talking handfuls of candy at almost every house we went to. People even wanted to give Matthew treats to which I kindly said no thanks as I could tell our teeth would already be rotting out due to Joshua's haul. One of the houses in our neighborhood even had their garage set up with tables of candy, cookies, cider, and wine. Joshua was a bit slow going at first when we set out, but once he got the hang of it he was all into getting the candy. Matthew did fairly well, but hit meltdown at the furthest point away from our house so I had to run him back home (and yes, I had stupidly carried the 20 lb. chub the entire way thinking the stroller wouldn't be very trick-or-treat friendly going up to doorsteps - my arms are still trying to heal). Apparently Matthew has inherited his father's poor circulation and was FREEZING despite the layers he was wearing. Soon after I got Matthew home Joshua and Uncle Phil came home because Joshua declared he had enough candy, which he absolutely did! Grandma and Grandpa Hager had also come over and gave Joshua and Matthew special Halloween treats! It was a fun-filled night!

Halloween dinner.

Trick or treating with Uncle Phil.

Special treats from Grandpa and Grandma Hager.

The little dalmatian got a stuffed dalmatian.

The candy haul!

Silly and tired trick or treaters wearing their treat bags after dumping out the treats!

Candy Drop!

Saturday was the traditional candy drop at Harder & Warner Landscape and Garden Center. We braved the wind, cold and a few sprinkles with Shawn, Erin, Owen and Aiden just for enough time to watch the machines drop the candy and to gather some goodies.

Dropping the candy!

Two little firefighters gather some treats!

Traditional Pumpkin Carving

Joshua wanted to carve the HUGE pumpkin he had picked on his field trip. He chose Lightning McQueen as his design. There wasn't anything kid friendly about the pattern however, so mom ended up doing all the carving.

Joshua promised that this year he would scoop out the seeds, unlike other years in which he has just been grossed out by the slimy goo and wouldn't go near it. He didn't use his hand, but rather a scoop to get the seeds and goo out and that only lasted all of maybe a minute. I guess baby steps are good.
Here is the completed and lit Lightning McQueen.

Joshua chose a pattern called the Howler for daddy to carve.