Happy Birthday Dad.

I'm not sure why I'm posting this.  It's not one of my more grandiose moments, but alas, it's the thought that counts. If not, then the humor surely counts for something.  Can I just say that around this time of year, the very thought of cake is repulsive due to all the birthdays?  So, though it was my fathers birthday, I couldn't bring myself to bake a cake.  In two days time we were to have a big gathering with family with two huge cakes and that was good enough dang it!  Well the day was rapidly ending and guilt got the better of me.  What could I do?   I didn't have time to bake a cake!!  I then decided that anything was better than nothing even if it was, toast.  A fresh baked slice of cinnamon raisin toast!  I know I'll never live this down, especially now that its public knowledge but for the sake of my journal, I'm throwing myself under a bus.  Happy Birthday Dad.  You are awesome.  You are loved.

Happy Birthday Sebastian!

It seems like just this morning I was FINALLY going into labor with this little guy.  Here we are a year later and I don't know where the time went.  Here are some facts about my boy.  Sebastian is my biggest baby and by that I mean he has lasted the longest as a baby.  For example, he has only six teeth, when his brothers all had many more at age one.  He still eats mostly baby food and is still nursing.  He, being my last baby (probably), has been carried A LOT and so he's not walking yet.  This I love!  If I could keep him a baby forever I would!  I've tried and have treasured each moment with him.  I love this age and will miss it dearly.  He pulls himself up and walks along furniture, but mostly army crawls and moves much like a lizard.  It's hilarious.  He doesn't sleep through the night yet.  Not hilarious.  He sleeps in my bed, which I love, sometimes.  He is snugly and sweet, and very happy.  He loves to dance and copy you, especially coughing.  When he cries, he throws his head back and covers his mouth with his open hand.  He's very dramatic.  He is flirty, yet shy.  His laugh is infectious.  He's 20lbs, give or take a few.  He loves to bathe and more recently, swim!  He travels well, and has awesome hair.  He's allergic to peaches, and has never been sick, except for when I fed him peaches.  He loves his brothers and his johnny jumper.  He'll spend hours in it every day.  He had a temporary allergy to soy, but has officially outgrown it and I am enjoying that immensely.  Sebastian has a few nick names, including Bastian, Sea-bass-tian, Sea-bass, bubs, and baby.  He is a blessing and a pleasure to have around and we love him to pieces!

Checking out his birthday present from his tiptoes.  He's cute.

Here's a shot of him being dramatic.  Hahaha.

Just a baby, but still too big!  Stop growing up.  Stop.  Just stop!

Does his diaper look humongous to anyone else?

Happy birthday Bastian!  We love you!

My Garden!!

This is so exciting to me!  This is my first garden and these beautiful boxes were built by my awesome husband.  I've planted a lot of things considering it's my first experience with gardening but look at it go!  

In the far box I have walla wallas, garlic, red onions, jalapenos, and sugar snaps.  

In the middle box I have radishes, broccoli, four tomato bushes, two varieties, three vine tomatoes, each different, and behind those I planted cucumbers and zucchini.  

In the biggest box I planted two different types of leaf lettuce, carrots, scallions, cilantro, cabbage, three strawberry plants, all different, and finally, three raspberry plants.  

In two pots I have potatoes growing and all along the hillside in my backyard I have many different types of squash and pumpkins.  That is my favorite part and why I started all this!  If everything grows I should have an overwhelming amount of pumpkins and I can't wait!

The tomato, strawberry and raspberry plants started as plants.  The walla wallas were starts and the rest I planted from seed.  It is very rewarding to watch them grow.  I love it.

This type of gardening is called square foot gardening and allows you to really utilize your space.  In this box I've left 3 sq ft empty for now.  Not sure what I'll plant in them yet.  The white stuff in case you're wondering is diatomaceous earth which is basically crushed rocks and shells that is supposed to act as a natural pest control.  It's abrasive texture cuts up the critters that crawl on it.  I didn't spread it very evenly as you can see.  I also lined my beds with copper tape to repel slugs.

 My first pumpkin!

Hayden's 7yr Birthday Pictures

What a handsome guy!  I recently posted about Hayden's birthday but hadn't gotten these back yet.  For more on his special day scroll 3/4 the way down here http://sterlingandjenny.blogspot.com/search?updated-max=2012-05-21T22:34:00-07:00&max-results=10 

Some people we love...

A friend of mine gave me some great advice and we started implementing it into our family home evenings a couple months ago.  One Monday is spent doing a spiritual lesson, another an activity, another a cultural lesson, and lastly a service project.  All of which are started with a song, prayer and scripture of course.  I feel indebted to my friend for this idea.  I don't remember if this is exactly what she does, but either way, she jump started this idea and I am in love with it.  It has brought excitement, knowledge, and a new sense of selflessness to all of us.  Mondays are our favorite!  This was our first service project we did, pulling weeds.  I believe we filled over 14 grocery bags in all!

 Way back in March when my sister came to visit with her now fiance, his brother came too and we loved him right away.  He is a great guy and we hope to see him a lot more!!

 A little bowling is good for everyone.

 Celebrating.

 Excellent form Gavin!

 She wants my baby....and that sounds funny.

 We don't see these cute kids nearly enough!

 He quite enjoyed his Popsicle, and we quite enjoyed their company!

 To say these four little boys love their Grandpa would be an acute understatement, and I think it's safe to say, Grandpa is in his favorite place here.

Happy Birthday to Me!

My really good friend was in town visiting her family and we were able to sneak away the morning of my birthday to enjoy a pedicure.  It was, as always, great to see you Erika!  I hate that our visits are so few and far between but what can you do?  

After lunch Sterling and I took the boys to the park and enjoyed the sunshine and just being together.  I failed to get a picture of Erika and I, but I have several from the park.  That evening Sterling took me to Brix 25 for dinner and it did not disappoint...well dessert did, but dinner was fabulous.  It was a good day.

 His hair is so fly.

 This is one of my favorites.  I love seeing his teeth, and his nose all squinched up.  No, that's not a word but it seems perfect.

 I love his expressions.  One of the coolest things I get to do as a mother is watch them see and experience new things each day.  Their excitement, wonder, and joy for everything, is a good reminder to stop and smell the roses, and to enjoy the simplicity of life and the beauties around us.  We are blessed!

  

Noah has an extremely gregarious personality and I admire that characteristic in him.  He makes friends on every playground we visit and I can't help but think of him as a missionary and how great he's going to be!

 I remember the days when the slides looked much smaller next to him.  Again with the time that won't stop!  For now though, I'm grateful these free playgrounds provide ample thrill for them.  In a couple of years they'll experience Cedar Point and not much will appease them after that!

After dinner we walked around the water and then went on a hunt to find some sunglasses for me.  We were unsuccessful there, but did stumble upon what I think is the biggest camping chair in the world, complete with 6 cup holders.