Amy's Baby Shower

This past weekend, Sharla and I hosted a baby shower for our long-time friend, Amy. Since we have five boys, it was a lot of fun for us to "think pink."

Invitations.
Amy and David loading up on candy (no, he didn't attend the shower, he just drove her to town since she was going to have to come from St. Louis alone).
Napkins made into dresses--idea stolen from some blog that I should credit, but now can't find.
Onesie garland.
The food (my contribution was small).
Pink Valentine's Day candy worked well for treats.
It was fun to pick out/make pink stuff. I found the cutest stuff at Target like this sweat suit and these leggings.

Made a few burp cloths. I like the pink ones, but had to include the cats for Amy :)

Weekend at Grandma's

The little boys and I spent last weekend in Lebo (you know Owen is getting old when he has to stay home for practice). Miles loved being a one-man show! We originally went because Sharla and I hosted a baby shower for Amy, but it also worked out that we could attend Bonnie Lou's surprise 65th birthday party and see Quint and Susan.

He hid this Lego Man soooo many times and then gave directions warmer/colder.
And he played the "Fish Game" many times. Pretty soon this game will have to be moved to the table--Graham wants to crawl so badly, just can't quite get out of the Superman position. My mom took Miles to Wal-Mart to get groceries and was going to let him pick out a little toy. Instead he stopped her at the clothes and picked out a Batman T-shirt and reversible shorts. We all had to vote whether we liked the blue or silver side better. He also got to go meet Tex, Susan's parents' 20+ year old longhorn (great opportunity to wear the Texas jersey) and cat, and also check out their neighbors' array of goats, horses, llamas, etc. Those would have been good pictures!
Lucky for me, my mom had made these fun Star Wars cookies. We brought them home and I conveniently bagged them up and turned them into Miles' preschool half-birthday treats. He said his friends liked them and his teacher said he "rocked." Oh how I wished I enjoyed baking...

Dirty Man

Graham has been eating more food lately....well, maybe not eating it, more like rubbing it on his face!

Snow Day

We had a snow day a week ago. The big boys shoveled the entire driveway (Adam said he'd treat them to hot chocolate, but they came home with some frou-frou drink from Star Buck's instead). A week later, we are out for MLK and it pretty much looks the same out. Boo to all of the snow and cold weather!!

Six Months

Graham is halfway to his first birthday! Miles wanted Graham to suit up in his OKC jersey for a triplets picture even though his is a romper. At six months he is: sitting up, rolling and pushing to move around, messily eating some baby food, chewing on EVERYTHING, and (best for last) he has one tooth! He looks chunky but is smaller than the other boys were. He's 27", 16 lb., 10 oz. **Edit--make that TWO TEETH!

Gamers

The "bigs" (Owen and Miles) and cousins and friends have been VERY INTO playing Super Mario Brothers on their DSi's over break. . . however, there is another gamer in our house that likes to take his turn trying to save the princess (or whatever the objective is nowadays, didn't it used to be saving the princess?). Here, Owen is offering his advice.

Black Power Ranger

Miles has been very into the Black Power Ranger, Ninja moves, something called a "drive slammer" and the color black lately. Santa brought him new tennis shoes that were too tight so we exchanged them for these (even better) black ones. He spent some his Christmas money from Grandma Jean and Grandpa Harlan on these black clothes. When he's not Jacob Pullen, he's "Black Power Ranger."

For Christmas, Adam and I each picked something out for ourselves at Best Buy and called it good. I got a flip camera (not really a flip because I got the one that can go underwater, so watch out pool people :) so here's a video to share of Jacob Pullen/Black Power Ranger.

Fun DIY Gifts

I was able to use some of the ideas on my "to try" list for Christmas presents this year. I love making fun, SHORT, easy projects like some of these...

Coordinating tie shirts for the babies/cousins.
Gift card holders.
Yarn covered letters which I'd really like for my boys, but how many times can you put your name up in your room?? Made a few other things, but I guess there are no pictures of these.

Love Legos

This was one of Owen's Christmas gifts (he wanted to try other things in addition to the Star Wars stuff).

One day later.... He says he's ready for the Taj Mahal (of course, it was only $300)

Let It Snow

We left Manhattan last Thursday afternoon to hopefully avoid potential bad roads. It started snowing right as we pulled into Atwood Thursday night. We left 60+ degree, go-to-the-park-in-shorts weather for single digit temperatures!

The big kids (minus Reese, who was on the D.S.) ready for some sledding.
Miles going down the big hill in front of the Braxmeyer's house. Notice Edie and Newman on the neighbor's porch :(
Raly and then Owen sledding down the same hill.
Eventually the kids talked Grandpa Mike into driving the truck to the bottom of the hill and pulling them to the top each time.

The kids were hoping it had snowed in Manhattan...no such luck. I say if it's going to snow, we might as well get enough for a snow day :)

New Year's in Atwood

Since we didn't make it to Atwood for Thanksgiving as planned, we decided to head out over the long New Year's weekend. Fortunately Adam's sisters and their kids were able to come as well. The kids trashed Grandma Rosie's house with all of their projects, cold-weather clothes, Christmas toys, etc. I'm sure I contributed as well, given that I only left the house for an hour the whole time we were there (treadmill in the basement so I was set :)

The boys received marshmallow guns from Mike and Rosie. You can shoot one big one or a bunch of little ones (BB style). They are a lot of fun. Mike took the four big kids to the grocery store when it was closed on New Year's Day so they could shoot/hide/talk strategy on the intercom. I heard it was a blast!
Reese REALLY LOVES playing the D.S. He was either playing it or watching Owen play Mario Brothers nearly the entire time.
We finally got to meet our nephew/cousin, Jack (on the left). He's 2.5 months younger than Graham and Brody, but bigger than both--so cute! Brody (on the right) just had his surgery two weeks ago and looks great! These three are going to get into all kinds of trouble I'm sure...

Old Friends

It somehow worked out that both Sharla and Amy (and me) were around Lebo for Christmas. I was lucky to see them both for a little while.

Amy practicing on Graham--she's going to have her first baby in two months!
Since Sharla has kids we tend to take their pictures and not our own. Brady got a D.S. and our boys got a second one so they spent most of their time together on these little gadgets. I guess we shouldn't worry too much about their "D.S. time" given that we used to go to Sharla's house and hole up in her "Nintendo Room" and play Mario Brothers over and over and over. Owen and Brady are playing the same game--twenty years later???

Merry Christmas!

We spent Thursday night through Sunday at my parents' house. It was a wonderful Christmas, and Santa did manage to find us in Lebo. I didn't take many pictures, but here are a few.

We opened gifts with Grandma and Grandpa and Quint and Susan on Christmas Eve. The boys were thrilled with these Under Armor pullovers, socks and hats from Uncle Quint and Aunt Susan. They dig clothes :)
Owen's number one item on his list of wants was an Oregon Ducks jersey. Miles wanted a WHITE Texas jersey (since he has this same one in orange from last Christmas). Thanks Grandma Jean and Grandpa Harlan! I'm just glad Oregon made it to the National Championship so the jersey is a guaranteed hit until January 10 :)
Graham got a pillow dog from Grandma and Grandpa. All three boys now have the same kind of dog from their first Christmas. The big boys still sleep with theirs.
Miles helped Grandma make an angel food jello cake. He was more excited about the ice pick than the cake :)

Santa found us and brought an additional DS (so now they both have one), some games, shoes, clothes, and a few other odds and ends. From aunts, uncles and cousins they got Jacob Pullen jerseys, remote control tarantulas, and Star Wars Legos. They've been enjoying their new loot all weekend. Hope everyone had a Merry Christmas! (still thinking about getting our Christmas, now New Year's, cards out)

In Training

Owen has been training Graham to sit by himself. He takes him to the middle of a bed and times how long he can sit before he falls over. It's very cute when he picks up Graham and says, "Mom, we're going to practice."

Gingerbread House

Miles invited me to be his guest at his pre-school last week. We built and decorated gingerbread houses. Oddly enough, I don't think this is something I've ever done. He had fun piling on the candy--and trying to eat some on the side. The house made it home, but lasted less than 24 hours. If you're thinking, "I bet Newman took that down," then you'd be right! Nothing left but a STICKY floor. I suppose I should be thankful it didn't make him throw up all over the place.

Hi Santa

We enjoyed brunch at the country club today. Bad pictures--maybe the professional photographer got something better. Up close, I thought Santa was about 18... Owen keeps talking about "Fake Santa" and "Real Santa" but still believes (for now).

(Sorry you have to wear white socks Graham. You can't have your new ones until Christmas.)

Focused...

We took the boys to the high school game Friday night (strange not to be there at 5:30 with the cheerleaders). I had to take these pictures to illustrate how different they can be. If there is a ball involved, Owen is completely consumed by what's going on. We even caught him yelling "Ohhhh" like they do at KSU games when we are on defense.

On the other hand, this child... while interested in the game, was also there for the snacks and the atmosphere. During the first time out, he says to me (with his sucker), "Hold this for a minute, I need to dance."
Sidenote: They had just gotten their hair cut before the game. Miles really didn't care what Kevin did, so long as he left with a mohawk.

Enough with the hair pictures!

Okay, this is it. Oddly enough, Miles wanted to look like Grandma Rosie (Adam's mom if you didn't know already). Thinking he'd change his mind (and pick Tom Brady), Adam said it would require a curling iron. He was all for it. What do you think Grandma Rosie?

We added glasses to enhance the resemblance!
Alright, I'm done. I will try to post something related to Christmas next time since it's only 10 days away. Sidenote: Owen is VERY into the Oregon Ducks, therefore, Miles likes them too (but not as much as K-State or Texas). Thanks Grandpa Mike for the duck PJ's.

Another Look

We call this look "Grandpa Mike"--side part and every hair in place. He really likes this style since he really thinks he looks like Grandpa Mike.

Miles...

Adam started drying Miles' hair at night so he wouldn't go to bed with it wet. Well... drying turned into styling, and styling turned into naming, and now it's a game pretty much every night. Here Adam was going for the "Ace Ventura" look. Miles didn't understand, but we thought it was funny. Stay tuned for more do's...

Found: Toes

Graham discovered his toes today--exciting stuff when you are 5 months old!

Get This Off Me!!

I bought Graham this cute hat in Kansas City. Either their sizes are off or his head is huge because I had to shove it on and it squishes his face. Kingston, we hope you like it--it's coming your way!

5th Annual Shopping Trip

I met the Papio girls in Kansas City for our annual shopping/night out trip. Great times! Miss this bunch!