Why do I try???

Each year I have the same brilliant idea to take pictures of the kids in their Christmassy Sunday clothes. 

You might remember such photos as this...  

Where Eliza refused to stand next to Ian. 

Or these from the next year...Where I couldn't get either of them to look at the camera. 

  

Ready for this years photos? This one is called "climbing the ladder on Grandma's Christmas tree" or "leave me alone Mom."

"I'm going to eat my brother's ear off" 

 Finn was looking at some very distracting cousins. By the time I get them to actually sit still and look at the camera, they will be too big to look cute dressed up in Christmassy clothes and the pictures will just be creepy and postable to akward family photos or something.

 Merry Christmas to all!

Halloween Parade...

 We went to a truck or treat last night. I really don't like doing Halloween 2 nights in a row, I think it is a waste and it diminishes the excitement of Halloween night. You lose the neightborhood feel. I like going door to door and I don't believe anyone will put needles in my kids candy!!

Anyways... Here we have Spider Girl and Ninjaknightpirateman

Any guesses on these costumes?? I found Mikes at DI for a sweet deal. Finn's wearing Ian's outfit from his first Halloween! Tonight I am going to try and talk the kids into being pirates. I am not sure if they are going to go for it. If they do, I will update and add that picture in.

It's official.

Finnegan is really a member of our family now. He has his own Christmas stocking!

Fall Harvest

 With our freezing weather this week we decided it was time to bring in the last of the Harvest! We have six beautiful pumpkins and three small and under ripe  butternut squash. I loved having a garden this summer and the kids loved it too. We are already making plans for a garden expansion next year. I have learned some things and will hopefully be able to have a better organized and fruitful garden. I was still not feeling great in May when I did the planting so I just threw it out there as best I could.

 Ian has been busy with various scouting tasks now that he is 8. He made us dinner including a fantastic apple pie. He is such a great kid and is a little bit nervous about this weekend with all the relatives coming to see him be baptized!

Finn just had his 6 month check up! I can't believe his first year is halfway over. He is 13 pounds, still in the 1st percentile for height and weight but is doing great with his developmental milestones. He is rolling and trying to sit up. He loves baby food, babbling and licking his toys. He loves listening to his Dad play the guitar. I guess I should take some pictures of that! Happy Fall.

School already??

Ian was not exactly excited to start a new school year. But he was a good sport and tried to have a positive attitude. 

 This little girl however couldn't be more thrilled to be going to school! She even let me comb her hair without a single tear.

 Good thing I still have this little guy around to keep me busy.  But hopefully I will have time to make these http://www.ourbestbites.com/2012/09/chocolate-chip-cookie-dough-truffles/ today. They sound delightful. Also on my list of things to do is working on my quilt, going to stores without whiners, and reading. I will miss Eliza but secretly wish Kindergarten was everyday!

 We also had the exciting Pocatello Marathon last week! Our runners did fantastic we are so proud of them. They run for hours and hours and I am barely walking 20 minutes a few times a week. Somebody better give me a kick to help me get jump started.

In other questions... we are thinking what to do with our deck before the winter hits. I am leaning towards this product... http://synta.com/deck/ called Restore. Anybody used it before?? Anybody want to help paint our deck???

Growing up...

Where did my red screaming preemie go? 

4 pounds                                              11 pounds

I can't believe he's grown so much in just 4 months. We have had a fun August so far...

Island Park with the cousins....

Some of the cousins are now taller than me.....

 Ian celebrated his birthday in Yellowstone. He was a good sport and we celebrated his birthday early and didn't do much for him on the day. I can't believe I have an 8 year old starting 3rd grade this year!

And no clue why this picture is sideways, but this is how Finn spent most of the reunion, surrounded and adored by his cousins and aunts and grandma!! What a lucky little baby.

My Green Pinky

Well this gardening attempt has taught me a lot. I have a better sense of how I should arrange my plants and what plant I needed to plant earlier. So far I have harvested 3 pea pods, some lettuce and 1 yellow squash. I have onions that are ready and my potatoes are doing fantastic (this IS Idaho). My pumpkins are getting a little out of control, next time I won't plant four seeds. For some reason I was thinking 4 plants = 4 pumpkins. I think we will have a lot more than that!

The Champion!

Finn slept 7 hours straight last night. Whaaat???

Finn's Big Day

Finn is almost 3 months old. He weighs around 10 pounds but still wears newborn clothes! We had the chance to host all of Mike's family and a great bunch of my family this weekend and all go to church together.  It was so much fun!

This cute little guy is sure loved by all his family. We are lucky to have you all! I have been lax on posting the fun things we have been doing this summer. Mike took the kids to Crystal Ice Cave which they loved! I took them to Jensen's Grove for some water fun. Mike has also been waging a constant war with the sprinklers, which caused him to dig a giant hole in the front yard much to the kid's delight!!

 Could these two be related? Their expressions are so funny.

I love having a backyard. Summer is going by too fast!

update...

Finn is 2 months old and growing strong! He now weighs 8 pounds 7 ounces. He has outgrown his preemie clothes. I am so happy that he is strong and healthy and gaining weight so good. He is a cranky baby and tried to kill me getting here but we love him anyways! 

We made a quick trip to Utah for a wedding reception (Mike's cousin Keely, who Eliza calls Achilles was married). We also were invited to a concert and jam session at the Card house. The kids had so much fun and Finn got to meet his younger cousin! Even though Ruthie looks big enough to eat Finn, he was not scared. He knew that she was too sweet to try anything.

One of the best songs of the evening was Grandpa Mark singing "I'm too Sexy." Hopefully Janae got that one on tape.  Thanks for a great show Richard and Janae!

And Back by Popular Demand....

Finn!

This first picture was taken today! It's hard to really capture how teeny he is! He is still in preemie outfits and preemie diapers. We take him in to get weighed on Tuesday, I am hoping he is at least 5 pounds.

 I think that he really doesn't like Dr Pepper.

I love the little smiles that peek out when he sleeps. We always swaddle him in his blanket but he will struggle and struggle until he gets one arm up to his face. 

And to keep the kids entertained... we added a trampoline to the backyard! So send your kids over to jump with them!! As for me, I am still working on getting my blood pressure down, and still don't have all the feeling back in the fingers of my right hand. But I am up and around and very appreciative to all who have expressed their concern for me! It was a little scary delivering him at 35 weeks but we are so grateful he is healthy and happy and that we are home together.

Little Fair One

So last week my body decided it didn't like pregnancy any more. REALLY didn't like it. So at 35 weeks and 6 days along it was time to get the baby out! I will probably give more details later, but I am tired. You can google Pre-eclampsia, and HELP syndrome for more information!

Finnegan Eugene Stubbs was born right before 2 pm on Friday, April 6th, 2012.

 He weighed in at 4# 10 ounces and 17 1/2 inches long. Yikes!

He is a strong little guy and we are so grateful to have him home healthy. And thanks to all you friends and family for your well wishes and prayers. 

The World is Out to Get Me.

Do you ever have a week or month where everything seems to go wrong? Like everybody and anybody are trying to rip you off, deceive you and just make your life miserable?? I've had to add two major groups of people to my bad list in the past week. It's not a list you want to be on. Take that as a warning.

#1 on my bad list for March: Pocatello Family Medicine. At my 32 week pregnancy check up, my MD/resident informed me that she could not deliver my baby already scheduled for c-section delivery on May 7th. What? Are you kidding me? The tears did flow. Then I got mad. Apparently she will be out of town for the whole month of May. Then I found out she's know this for at least a year. WHAT? Why have I been seeing her month after month? and she tells me NOW that I have to get a new doctor? So now I am 33 weeks. And still don't know what to do. I already have a hard time trusting doctors, this did not help. I may just wander in to a random ER somewhere when I am in labor.

#2 on my bad list for March: Sears. 
We recently purchased this little beauty for our home. Lovely isn't it?? But the salesman made a whole lot of promises and guarantees at the time of sale that apparently were all lies. So the poor delivery men received the wrath of Wendy. And then I spoke with Sears customer service centers all around the country. And I soon learned that I can't understand a Southern accent AT ALL. One customer service agent said, "oh we will compensate you $40." And I said and how is that supposed to make anything better? I demanded the full 70$ delivery charge refunded. They did grant me that at least. But we won't mention the gas connection package that they made us also purchase that wasn't even compatible with the oven. Or the time Mike spent running around Pocatello trying to get the right parts.  Long story short, Sears is on my bad list. This oven has 90 days to prove itself or it's being sent straight back. With burnt-on cheese.

Unfortunately this "World is out to get me" problem isn't just limited to me in the family. Just ask Mike about his dishonest students and broken cell phone.

And of course while I am spending hours on the phone chewing out doctors offices and customer service agents, poor Ian is laying on the couch with a 102 degree fever. Poor kid. And Eliza somehow has 10x the normal amount of energy. Someone give us a break please!!!

That's my boy!

Ian brought this home from Church today....

I especially like the jagged teeth. I love that kid.

Fashion Show or Someone Please Take That Child to the Hairdresser...

 Eliza has been growing out of her dresses at an alarming rate! Today I remembered that I had some dresses from when I was little in a small suitcase in the garage so I got them out. I forget how lucky we are to have elastic! These 100% cotton things have no give whatsoever and I was scared that she was going to bust the seams in them when she was running and tumbling through the house!

Thank goodness she has better hair than me.

 I love how she poses in the pictures. I don't think we look too much alike. I had a crooked eye (like Ian!) I had a hairstyle that was obviously done by myself! I was a whole lot shorter than her, this picture in the yellow dress was my first grade school picture and it barely fits her at 4!

 Ian couldn't resist jumping in front of the camera a few times. They were so bored today they begged me to call some cousins over. I tried to explain that everyone is far away and it takes lots of planning to have family over but they don't like my excuses. Anybody want to come visit and entertain them?? Otherwise we will have to have another fashion show next week.