FYI

Yes, we're home from our trip (which was seriously awesome!). We're also quite sick. We left in a hurry, had a blast and came home exhausted. The house is still a wreck. Matt started a 24 hour stint at work yesterday and we're all dragging a bit. So fair warning: I have no intention of answering the door for at least a couple days. Phone calls are a maybe, depending on what's going on each moment. So please don't take it personally. We're just not up to interacting much as of now, and we really look forward to seeing/ chatting with everybody when we've got some umph back. Love to you all! We'll post pictures soon. Thanks for understanding. Talk to ya later.

My Son is Like a Box of Chocolates...

Jes was eating a delectable dinner of reheated takeout pizza, when Matt related the story about a middle of the night pizza mission he'd carried out with Gabe the night before. Matt slanted the facts a little to sound like the whole trip was concocted just to surprise Jesse with pizza for dinner tonight. Matt ended with, "Wasn't that nice of Gabey to go get this pizza for you?" J's response: "Well, I like Little Caesars, and... is this Little Caesars?"
Actually, it was Domino's. (Little Caesars was closed.) Sorry Domino's, a consensus has officially been reached. Y'all are pathetic compared to the classic five-buck-pizza.

In other quotables, Jesse's dinnertime prayer last night included a request to "Please let Jesus come and see us for a while." Tonight's contained, "Please don't let Jesus get killed by the bad guys again." (I should note here that we have explained how Jesus allowed some bad men to hurt and kill Him because of Heavenly Father's promise that if Jesus did these certain things for us, families can be together forever, etc. This will obviously be an ongoing discussion.)

A couple weeks ago we were in the car when Jesse had some questions. "Mommy, next time it rains can you show me the rainbow?"
"Of course, Baby."
"And can we go outside and play with it?"
...Oh and yes, in case you're wondering, I am in love with the boy.

It was that same car trip, when out of nowhere I was very urgently briefed. "Mom, we have a problem." His voice held all the panic of a mouse on a glue trap, trying to keep its cool. "WHERE IS GRANDPA JIM GONNA SIT?? There's a seat right here (gesturing to the front passenger seat) and Grandma Kay can sit in it. And you will sit there, and me and Gabey and Jakey will sit back here, and THERE'S NO PLACE FOR GRANDPA JIM!"
I told him all about rental cars, and he listened patiently, then sounded both relieved and astounded as he responded, "Oh. That's weally cool!"

So while it's at the very least entertaining to be around the kid, there's just no guessing what excitement the next moment may hold. I can only imagine what Gabey and Jakey will have to say as their vocabularies increase. I admit, I'm morbidly curious.

Good Ol' Abe!

"You cannot help the poor by destroying the rich.

You cannot strengthen the weak by weakening the strong.
You cannot bring about prosperity by discouraging thrift.
You cannot lift the wage earner up by pulling the wage payer down.
You cannot further the brotherhood of man by inciting class hatred.
You cannot build character and courage by taking away people's initiative and independence.
You cannot help people permanently by doing for them, what they could and should do for themselves."

~ Abraham Lincoln

More Men!

J wasn't feeling well and kept going inside and back out. Couldn't quite resist.

Jesse's picture of himself

They built a jail, guarded by Army dudes.

I was running low on blankets so I threw him on a towel to sleep, and he found this thumb! SO FREAKING CUTE.

Whenever the girls come over, every single toy from the toy room gets dragged out. Check out the destruction in the background! Impressive, no? Even better than what my kids normally do!

I know, I need to take more of the other boys. Jakey's just changing so fast I've been focusing mostly on him. I'll do better next time.

My Favorites!

I took these after Matt came home a couple weeks ago. My boys are the greatest! This life is my dream come true.

Too Many Pictures...

When Matt's away I post all three billion pictures I take, even if they're barely different from each other. He wants to see them, so just endure and keep scrolling, please.

My milk is mysteriously drying up and my sweet Fatman isn't the tiniest bit interested in formula, so (after three days of stubborn hunger so extreme he couldn't sleep) as of yesterday I've had to start supplementing with the real stuff. Meanwhile, the fight for fuller ta-tas continues, as I prefer to keep nursing as much as possible. Here's his first semi-real meal.

This is Gabey running away so I won't take his picture.

Jesse pretty much stayed on the couch all day yesterday, after playgroup and the doc's office and an emergency Walmart trip. His tummy started to hurt as soon as we got home and he didn't eat all day. Finally in the evening he had some juice and crackers and puked all over the couch. He said, "I feel better now. Can I take a warm bath?" Oh, and while he was laying on the couch he asked me to turn the baby's swing toward him because he wanted to see Jacob's "cute little fat face."