Bye Bye Summer

Seems like fall is coming fast this year, but then again, it is September 20th already. Holy smokes, how fast this year is flying by! Here are some pictures of what our summer looked like! *Caution: It is a boat load of pictures!

Played soccer...he's getting really good at it and we plan on getting him on a team next summer!

They made a slide out of the bed mattress...nice and safe!

They loved it and played with it for like a 1/2 hour!

Posed for some more pictures!

Gabe ended up catching coxsackie (hand, foot, and mouth disease). He had little blisters all over his body!

Played at another play ground. And a shout out to my amazing husband- he lost 46 lbs this summer!!

Me and Gabe...had to get me in there somewhere!

Gotta watch the planes fly by!

We spent a week and a half in Maryland visiting family. They loved playing with bubbles at Gigi's house!

Gigi loved holding Gabe!

Absolutely LOVE this picture!!

David and Jacob with Great Grandpa!

We visited Aunt Ashley (my sister) and they loved playing with their cousins

This picture is a little out of order...but all the great grandmothers loved to hold Gabe!

Went to a park with Ashley's family

Went fishing in Grammy's gold fish pond and got help from great grandpa

Played in the hose at Grandma's house

Played in the pool at Grammy's house!

swimming all by himself- such a big boy!!

Went miniature golfing for the first time and loved it! 

Read books with Grandma

Tried to get a picture of all three of them!

Played with Grandpa when they came to visit

played in a big tree with Grandpa

Got way too big for Mommy's comfort! My babies are growing up!

Well that was our summer in a nut shell! We look forward to this fall and winter and what new things it will bring! David has started Joy School with a couple of other families from our church...so far he's doing great (and I haven't had to teach yet!)

Our Outdoor Adventure

Lately we have been staying inside because it's been soo hot outside, well that, and I'm lazy and don't really want to try and handle all three boys all by myself. But there was one day last week where the boys were driving me crazy, and I knew it was because they were so bored. So I looked outside, and it was a little overcast and it "looked" like it could be a decent day to get out. 

FYI- Never go by how it "looks" from the nice confines of your home!

Nevertheless, we went out to this nice big park here in Liverpool, and the boys had a blast.

I actually remembered to bring to the camera. But alas, they were too busy playing to even look my way. Hence, the reason no one is looking at the camera...

 He heard a plane going by...right before I snapped the picture he was looking right at me with a big grin on his face...stupid plane!

Jacob enjoyed my attempts to get him to look at me...he would say "cheese" and then turn and run the opposite direction!

My boys love to watch other children play too...that's why the serious faces

Stinking boy would not look at me!

Chasing after some seagulls

running away from Mommy...

"Let me out!"

Don't ask me why he's biting the stick...he's just weird like that, and he's 3.

It might have been overcast but it was so stinking humid the poor boys were dripping in sweat.

Showing off their disgusting sweaty heads...actually they were watching more kids, but I took the picture anyways so you could see the sweat! haha

And afterwards, my major mistake! They were so hot I thought it would only be nice of me to get them some ice cream to help cool them down. They looked so cute sitting there holding their cones...

It was not so cute when we got home and they had ice cream covering themselves and their car seats! I got them the chocolate covered cones because I thought the chocolate would contain some of the melting ice cream, and it did...to a point. Never making that mistake again!

And this is what Gabe did for most of the time there! His outfit says sit all! :)

A Mistake that I Will Probably Be Making Again!

Last night I was in the mood for chocolate chip cookies...actually I've been in the mood for them for a couple of days now, but last night was the first night I actually wanted to spend the time to make them. haha So I did...let me set the stage for you...


It was after a very long day with three boys who didn't want to sleep at all. Actually, I think the only one who really did was Jacob and he only took a nap for 1 1/2 hours, very different than his usual 3 hour naps. We have decided to not let David take any more naps (even though he still needs them) because when he does he then doesn't go to sleep until really late at night. And I don't know why Gabe wasn't sleeping, I would get him to go to sleep in my arms or in the swing and then lay him down in his bed, and 15-20 minutes later he was up screaming again.


So pretty much it was a day of screaming, cranky children. And then I had to make dinner, which wasn't so bad, but still tiring. Looking back, I'm not too sure what made me want to make cookies, but nevertheless, I started making them. I found this new interesting recipe on pinterest that I wanted to try, so I got everything ready and started mixing the ingredients. I got to the part where I had to add the butter and I read the recipe "3/4 cup unsalted butter." I looked at the stick of butter and for some strange reason I thought I read that a whole stick was 1/4 cup, so I thought 3 sticks makes 3/4 of a cup. Next thought, "Wow, that's a lot of butter." Read the recipe again to make sure that's what it said, yep, 3/4 cup of butter. In went the butter. I didn't even think to check the stick again...


I finished everything and realized my dough didn't look like the picture online, so I read through the recipe again to make sure I did everything right. Yep, everything looks great. So I put the first batch in the oven. They flattened so fast I knew something was wrong, so I began thinking about what I did. Thought about the butter and shock ran through my body, I ran over to the trash and pulled out the paper. Sure enough it said 1/4 cup- half a stick, 1/2 cup- whole stick. I had doubled the amount of butter! I thought about how I could fix it and just started to pour more flour in the batter. Luckily, that worked.


The cookies tasted very buttery when I tried them right out of the oven, so I started cursing myself that I ruined all of these cookies. Well, I tried them today and Oh. My. Gosh! Absolutely heavenly! They are the softest, sweetest chocolate chip cookies I have ever tasted! They taste just like ones you would get from a bakery! They literally melt in your mouth! I just had to share my mistake! Maybe I should bake when I'm tired more often! haha

I got the recipe from here...but here is my mistake version. Enjoy!!


The Softest Chocolate Chip Cookies Ever!


Ingredients:
3 sticks of unsalted butter, soften
1 cup brown sugar
1/4 cup granulated sugar
1 egg
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
3 cups all purpose flour
2 teaspoons cornstarch
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 bag of semi-sweet chocolate chips


Directions:
1. Preheat oven to 350 F.
2. Cream together butter and sugars until smooth. Add egg and vanilla and blend in. Stir in flour, cornstarch, baking soda and salt. Stir in chocolate chips.
3. Drop by tablespoons onto a greased baking sheet and bake for 10-12 minutes, until golden brown around the edges.

Once Again We're Playing Catch Up...

I was doing so well with blogging, but lately I've been figuring out how to take care of three boys. David has decided that his life isn't fun unless he is making messes...I have cleaned up a dozen broken eggs from off the carpet, spilled milk all over our couch, flooded bathrooms and soggy floors, laundry detergent piled all over, spray on sun screen off our dining room floor...and so many more I just can't remember them all! So that has been my life so far, hence, the no blogging. But here are some pictures of what has also been going on with our lives.

Gabe was blessed over Memorial Day weekend. My brother and his family were visiting from Utah so we thought it would be a great opportunity to have everyone together. It was great being able to spend time with my sister and brother and their families. And yes, you see correctly that Ashley has the only granddaughter. We are a family of boys! haha It was also great getting to spend time with Brandon's side of the family...although, I don't have any pictures of them (we really need to work on that). David and Jacob loved being outside for pretty much the entire weekend.

He looked so handsome in his little button down shirt and vest! And just look at those blue eyes!

He actually started smiling right after we came back from Maryland...it's so cute!

Jacob loves to put things on his head. Hats are his love but their Grammy got them these cute masks and Jacob will tolerate them for a few minutes before taking them off. Luckily, I was able to get a couple of cute pictures first!

I tried to get a group shot of my boys but lately, David hasn't wanted anything to do with the camera, so his smile is fake and he's trying to get away and Gabe is screaming his guts out, so it's not the best picture. Jacob is adorable though... :)

We do have a pool that we could go to but I can't handle all three boys by myself, so I made do with what we had. I just dumped all their toys out of this bin and filled it up with water. They loved it and it kept them busy for a good 45 minutes. It would have kept them busy longer, but I was dying of heat and I didn't want them to get burned. David threw a tantrum coming back in though, so it might be a repeat thing!

A rare picture of me! haha But I got my hair cut...super short, as you can see! I've never had it this short before and I'm still not quite sure if I like it or not. I have my good days where I love it and my bad days where I hate it, but I guess everyone can say that about their hair.

Another cute picture of Gabe...he's getting so big and growing up too fast! Still has his red hair though!

Jacob loves to hold his little brother

Another attempt to get them all together...and again, Jacob is adorable!

I'm not sure why David is trying to pick Gabe's nose...but again, another cute picture of Jacob. haha

I'm cheap and I don't want to pay money to get someone to take professional pictures of Gabe, but I do want a good one to hang in our house so I've been trying to get a good picture myself...these aren't that bad! :)

So not much has been happening in our lives...we are pretty much living day-by-day (that's about all I can handle right now). Hopefully as the boys get older and a little less destructive, we'll be able to do more fun things! 

David's 3rd Birthday

We aren't a party family...more of, I didn't feel like putting together a birthday party right after having a baby, so we decided to celebrate it just as a family. David's 3 (he turned 3 on the 28th), he doesn't know and probably doesn't care that we didn't throw him a party. That was also my thinking about making him another huge cake. Last year, I did Buzz Lightyear and it turned out great (if I do say so myself), but he didn't even touch it and could've cared less about it. So I decided I wasn't going to decorate the cakes until they can be fully appreciated! haha We just went to the store and got an Angel Food cake, smothered it in whipped cream and put strawberries around it. It was a much bigger hit, and he actually ate one or two bites (surprisingly he's not much of a sweets boy...I guess I shouldn't complain, Jacob definitely makes up for him! lol). 

Blowing out the candles

My big, cute 3 year old!

Jacob- waiting for some cake

Opening some of his presents

It's a little blurry, but I just love his face!

Jacob the Garbage Truck! David wanted McDonald's chicken nuggets for his birthday dinner so we got him a 4 piece, as well as Jacob. Well, Jacob ate all of his and when we put him down he climbed up into David's chair and finished his!

And of course I had to add a couple of pictures of Gabe...our little red head! He's just a little cutie!

He's a month old now, but it still seems like yesterday when we had him...before you know it, it will be his 3rd birthday!

David and Jacob just love him...they are such good big brothers!

Just love this picture of him

and I love this picture too!

*And on a side note, I turned 26 on the 25th of April...I'm on the downward slide to 30 now. *sigh*