September

How sweet it was to see Levi reading to Mason!!!  It's been fun to watch Levi interact more with Mason now that Dorian is at school.

 Dorian made paper rockets.  And Levi posed with his rocket and his favorite puppy.

I've really been enjoying Fall. 
I've already had 3 pumpkin spice lattes.  :) 
We went to Dordt's pumpkin patch to pick out pumpkins to decorate our front steps with.

Now that Mason is sitting on his own better, it was fun to watch him looking in the basket for toys to play with!  He looks so grown up!!!

Dorian and Levi each found caterpillars.  I went to walmart to get bug jars for each of them.  And they've spent hours watching, feeding, and watching them some more.  I love it!

Nathan signed up and ran in a couple of races.  The first one was a 5K which was a fundraiser for SCCS.  The second race was a fundraiser for ATLAS.  This one was 13.1 miles!  A half marathon!  I was quite surprised that he wanted to sign up since he had really only run a few times...ever...since we've been together.  But he had his mind made up and assured me that he wasn't going to have a heart attack.  It wasn't so fun to see him bent over in pain from the migraine that he got after the race, but I was proud of him for doing it.  He ran the whole way!

Look who's 6 MONTHS OLD!!!

 Levi joined me in taking pictures.  :)

On the 24th, Mason rolled over from his stomach to his back for the first time.  He proceeded to do it another 2 times just to prove to me that he had it down.  :)  He's starting to get more mobile.  The following picture shows where he was sitting(in the Boppy pillow) to where I found him one day!  :)

Today is Saturday.  Our week this past week was quite crazy and busy.
Dorian, Levi and Nathan all had haircuts.  Dorian had an appointment in Sioux Falls to have 2 of his baby teeth pulled out.  :(  I took Levi and Mason to storytime at the library on Tuesday, Coffee Break Bible Study on Wednesday, and MOPS on Thursday. 
It was refreshing to have a day at home with everyone today!  Tonight Mason had his first bath in the big bathtub!  He wasn't so sure about it, but he didn't cry.

Dorian often wants to hold his little brother as he did again tonight.  They looked adorable in their pajamas!

What a perfect ending to another busy week!

Swinging & the Spencer Fair

It was a warm afternoon and a perfect time to take out the baby swing!  We all love to see Mason doing new things.  :)

As often happens, once we were outside for a while, our neighbor Geonella came out to swing as well.  :)  Each swing was filled.  Love it!

 He is so precious!

On Saturday we went to the Spencer Fair with Mom and Dad, Grandma, Kerry, Ashley, Emma, Claire, Aniah, and Eden.  It was a super hot day...but the kids still had a lot of fun.

Dorian was excited to "drive" this combine.  I think there were at least 6 kids in there!  :)

 Aunt Kerry with Levi.  :)

 Mason did excellent all day.  He took a couple of short naps in his stroller.

 The boys enjoyed looking at all of the big pigs.  :)

What better place to take our 3 boys than to the Fair!  :)

Labor Day Weekend

Saturday:  Nathan slept in until nearly 11:00 after his busy week!  We enjoyed having no plans for the day and just hung out at home.  It was so relaxing to sit outside on the deck.  And I have to admit that even though our little pool is only about 12 inches deep, we ALL enjoyed sitting in it.  :)

Sunday:  It was nice to go to church in the morning.  In the afternoon it was very exciting to give Mason his first bites of rice cereal.  It was a family event.  :)  Mason was ready for it, because he did great!

The exersaucer is one of Mason's favorite places to play.  He used to love the bee the best, but now it's definitely the ladybug!  :)

Monday:  We've enjoyed Labor Day for the past couple of years at the Sheldon Celebration Days.  And we enjoyed it again this year!  This time we were able to take Nathan along with us and we also met my friend Bethany and her 3 boys there as well.  After the pancake breakfast, the boys were fascinated by all of the planes and the wind direction thing.  The boys were trying to see how close they could get without touching it.  :)

The boys played for hours on the bouncy toys and rides and we also stayed to watch the parade.  The weather was absolutely beautiful!  It was a fun day!

Tuesday:  Dorian had school, and Mrs. Rozenboom sent a class photo! 

Aniah, Eden, and Adria came in the afternoon.  6 kids is a lot, but thankfully they all played well together.

 

Hong Kong & Indonesia

Yes, that's where Nathan was while I was home with the 3 boys for 7 full days (August 24-30).  I was a bit nervous about him being that far away.  And I knew that we couldn't communicate very easily as it cost so much to talk on the phone and send texts.  And there was a 12 hour time difference which also was pretty crazy.  But as it turns out, we survived quite well.  :)  We were able to talk over Skype a few different times.  And his trip all went exactly as planned.

So here are some pictures from our week.
I bought a 100 piece puzzle thinking that it would be something to keep the boys entertained for the week.  Nathan left early in the morning on a Saturday and the boys had the puzzle done by 10:04 that morning!  Dorian kept track of what time it was.  :)

We took out the jumperoo that hangs in a doorway to see if Mason was old enough to enjoy it.  I think Dorian and Levi were too much in his face and bouncing him around that he didn't really like it.  I'm actually trying it out again right now while both boys are at school.  It's going better.  It's nice for him to have somewhere else to sit and be entertained.  :)

Mom, do you recognize this blanket?  Mason likes to be outside!

On Saturday evening we got take-out pizza and had a movie night.
On Sunday the boys had an idea.  They wanted to surprise me and set the table for lunch.  It was very sweet of them.  The cutest part was that each of their stuffed animals also had a plate and joined us as well.  :)

It was a very warm week.  They spent many hours playing in our little pool.  I think they played in it every day!!!  It was wonderful to see them laughing and playing and being entertained so well.

Good morning.  Dorian and Levi thought it was fun to have Mason join them for breakfast.  :)

On Wednesday, it was Molly's 2nd birthday.  We've never celebrated a dog's birthday before, but we did this time.  :)  The boys were so excited to wrap some new bones in wrapping paper for her and watch her open them.  :)

Laundry...I like doing the laundry.  It is one thing that I would much rather do myself than let someone else take care of for me.  3 stacks of little boy clothes!!!  :)

I have been feeling like things are much more manageable over here since the boys have started school.  I love having them home...but it's so nice to also have some calmer time at home as well. 

 

On Friday night we spent the evening at mom and dad's house.  Dorian and Levi couldn't wait to get back there to ride on the new gator and play with Toby, their new kitten.  We also had a campfire and smores! I enjoyed having a good meal that I didn't have to prepare or clean up.  It was a fun night.  And when we got home, Nathan was nearly home from his trip!