Pre-Halloween weekend... picture overload!!

Friday:

Our ward had a Halloween party Friday night, so we all got dressed up & enjoyed the nice weather, yummy food, & good company! Roman wanted to dress up as Woody this year, so we decided to go with a Toy Story theme.



Naturally, Sterling had to be Woody's counterpart!

He LOVES the costumes- which makes it all the more fun!

Mr. & Mrs. Potato Head

I'm sad I didn't get a good picture of the 2 of us together, but I'll try again tomorrow! This costume is probably the hottest, most ridiculous, & unflattering costume I could have chosen for myself, but I love a good theme... & it was a hit, none-the-less!

I look really tired, don't I?
If you don't know why I'm so tired, you obviously didn't read my last post.

Anthon looked great in his costume... Hot, even!
Am I sick or what?!



Saturday:

I finished all my assignments Saturday afternoon once I got off work (& got A's on both my quizzes, I thank you!) so we decided to use a Groupon I bought for DeWitt Stables. It was SO much fun!! The weather was perfect, we went in the evening so most of the people were leaving, & they had so many fun things! They had a bouncy house, barrel train rides, petting zoo, hay maze, hay rides to the pumpkin patch, tons of little kid games, photo ops, &  Roman's favorite, by far... pony rides!

 & this is what pure joy looks like! This was his 1st time on a horse & I'm so glad Anthon captured it!!



He loved every minute of it!



His little guide was so sweet & let Roman use his hat for a "Wee-Haw!" 



The sunset was so pretty! ...even though Anthon's got the creeper vibe going on in this picture



The petting zoo was another big hit! They had all kinds of farm animals: rabbits, chickens, ducks, turkeys, a puppy, goats, sheep, & a pig.



Roman loved this chicken! Probably because it was the only one he could pick up & hols on his own :)



Here we are on the hay ride to the pumpkin patch



I LOVE how this picture turned out! The scarecrow, Roman's face with his pumpkin, Sterling's expression, the dust in the air... it's all great!!



After the stables, we hit up Bahama Bucks- another 1st for Roman. It was a success, as well!



Sunday:

It was a regular Sunday: church, naps, lots of family time, & a nice dinner... but with the 1st week of my new INSANE schedule down, I'm finding a new, greater appreciation for our sabbath- a day of rest! We had our Relief Society Extravaganza (use to be super Saturday) last weekend, & a lady taught a class on cutting boys hair... I LOVED it  and was anxious to put my new skills to use! What cha think??

Not that big of a difference, but it still makes him look older to me!
I love me a freshly, clean cut little boy!



I must have been in a fall colored kind of mood today cause we all ended up wearing some form of brown/orange



& this was the cherry on top of my fantastic weekend... watching my darling boys play with their adorable daddy!



my life for the next 8 weeks...

MCC is offering a concurrent enrollment (with ASU) nursing program starting next fall and in order to apply I needed 2 more classes that ASU requires. If I do the concurrent enrollment program, I can earn my bachelors degree instead of just an associates that I'd get from just doing MCC's nursing program. So, I'm taking 2 regular courses-Pathophysiology & college algebra- & cramming them into 8 weeks in order to reach the application deadline. It's day 4 of my 8 weeks & I feel exactly how my desk looks...

I'm at this desk ALL THE TIME! It's the 1st place I go when I wake up- I eat here, feed Sterling here,  usually fall asleep here, & everything in between!

 Overwhelmed & disorganized only begin to describe how I'm feeling! If you think my desk is bad, you should see the rest of my house! It's driving me CRAZY, but I barely have the time to keep up with my courses much less pick up after my messy boys.

Speaking of which, I was worried if I'd be able to get anything done being at home with Roman & Sterling, but thankfully keeping them entertained has been the least of my worries! Sterling makes a great study buddy & is content as long as he's hanging out near me.

His cuddles help keep me sane!

 Roman loves that I'm not hovering over him all the time & has found some wonderfully fun things to do while I'm distracted with school.

That's waterproof mascera, ladies & gentlemen!

December 17th is the end date for both my classes, so that will be the mark I'm focused on for the next 8 weeks! I know it will be worth it in the end, but I just hope I can see the mark through the disaster that is my life right now & focus on it!

Sunday Best

 I love dressing my boys normally, but there's something about getting them dressed on Sunday that I especially enjoy! Maybe it's the crisp clean shirts, the ties (the only accessory I can use!), or just the fancier style, but I love them in their church clothes!



"CHEESE!!"



Isn't he handsome?!



Gotta show off my cute new dress too ;)

 

What a little stud, huh?!

PS-  Remember THIS post about Roman's song? Well, I still sing it to Roman & wanted a song I could personalize for Sterling. I sang the "Mother Dear" song with Sterling's name once, but Roman looked at me like I was betraying him, so I decided I should find Sterling his own song! It just so happened that one of my favorite baby songs, "Baby Mine" by Allison Krouse (or the old school version on Dumbo) fits perfectly! Anytime I sing it to him & the lyrics are suppose to say "Baby mine" I replace it with "Sterling boy" (which is a nickname we call him a lot). Anyway, maybe I'm weird but I like having special lullaby's for my boys!

Staycation- a lot of pictures from doing a lot of nothing

 I had a week off from work & it was lovely! No, we didn't do anything really fun or exciting, but it was nice to spend some much needed time at home! I did take quite a few pictures (which was a goal of mine... I noticed I'd been slacking a lot lately, especially taking pictures of Sterling- the kid's growing up too fast!), so here are some of the pictures I took from me Staycation: 

Chapter 1- At home

 where we spent most of my week off



I did a LOT of cleaning, & this was taken on the day I was washing all the bedding so please ignore the bare mattress (we're really not that white trash),  but I LOVE when they nap together!



Roman is obsessed with cars, so we spent a lot of time playing with them... he was particularly proud of this line up he did!

  

Sterling started sitting up on his own, & I was glad I had my photo taking resolution fresh in my mind so that I'd be sure to document it!

 These 2 were playing so cute together that I wanted to get a picture of them together, but this is what I got...



 Roman smiling, Sterling looking away.

 

Then Sterling smiling and Roman looking away.




And finally, both of them looking at me like I'm retarded. Gotta love it!
PS- I love that they look like brother's in this picture!



This is what my kitchen looks like most nights while I'm making dinner- Roman "helping" (but really just making a mess) and Sterling chewing on every cooking utensil in my jar.



But I wouldn't change any of it! I love when they hang out with me while I cook!



& who cares if I have to wash every spoon, EVERY night?! He's having a good time :)



Chapter 2- Outside

The one fun thing we did do was go to the zoo. Anthon only had a couple jobs since it was a down day, so he got to come too- YAY!



This was our first time seeing the orangutan exhibit, and it was a big hit, UNTIL....



Lovely, right?! & there wasn't a tight seal on the glass, so it started to run out on our side of the glass. Needless to say, we didn't hang out there much longer. Nasty primate!



This was the week before the lovely, cool weather hit, so it was pretty toasty! It was still fun to be outside together though... & we did hit up the splash pad, too.





I LOVE this picture!! Such handsome boys!

 PS- One other thing I did while on vacation was find a new home for our dog, Gunner. Anthon was kinda sad about it, but honestly we never played with the poor thing & Roman has literally been crying to go outside & play (but he couldn't with that GIANT dog back there). So, it's better for everyone! Gunner's with someone that has the time to play with him and Roman is able to go outside & play  (which he has, for several hours, every morning)!

 Chapter 3- Things of the Spirit

This week off of work really came about because I had 2 important events on consecutive Saturday's. Since I was taking 2 Saturday's off in a row, and I had a week of remaining vacation & no where else to put it, I just squished it between the 2 Saturday's.

The Saturday starting off my vacation was my brother Peter & his wife Kelly's sealing.



 It was beautiful & I'm so happy for them! They are 2 of my favorite people & I love them both dearly!

The Saturday ending my vacation was General Conference. This was the first year in a long time that I was able to watch all the sessions. I usually work on Saturday's & miss the morning and part of the afternoon session because of that. Last April I decided I wasn't going to miss any of the sessions any more, & I'm so glad I didn't!



Roman did really well with all 4 sessions... & the little printable coloring books helped a lot



LOVE this picture, too!! Such sweet guys!

I'm so thankful for a living prophet & the chance we had to listen to him & his apostles!

& that's the end of my "Staycation"... I can't wait til my next one!

Growin' like a weed

This little man is 4 months old already & is getting bigger every day. We pushed his well check up back because he was so sick, so once he was feeling better we went in... and then he got sick again! K, I'm just being dramatic. He had a fever for a few days again, but it was because of the immunizations. Still, Sterling+ fever= no fun or sleep. He was healthy otherwise- growing as he should. He weighed 14.5 lbs & was 26 in tall. They haven't been giving me percentages for his size (like ever), they just show me his growth curve. I kinda like it that way- comparing him to himself & what's normal for him rather than comparing him to the masses (which, it seems like everyone I talk to's kid is in the 90th something percentile, so you'd think by now the 90th percentile would become the norm, or 50th. I don't know, just a thought). Anyway, he's healthy & growing at a consistent rate. He's becoming more & more playful everyday & I love it! Granted, he still looks at me like I'm the biggest idiot sometimes, but I really enjoy all of his expressions. He's started rolling a lot. I don't see him do it very often, but I know he does! for example, when I run in the mornings I lay him on his little play mat, on his back with his head on the North side. When I turn around to get off the treadmill, he's on his belly facing south. Here's a video when I actually witnessed it ... Please ignore my creeper voice :) 

I am SO thankful for this little boy!! He has the sweetest presence about him & such a mature spirit- I think he came to teach me thing or two while I try to raise him ;).

I have to add a little shout out to Mr. Roman. He FINALLLY got a hair cut!! There's nothing I love  more than a clean cut little boy... even if he's making this face while I'm trying to capture how cute he looks with short hair! Roman has been pretty bipolar lately, but I hear that's kinda common in 2 year olds. One minute he'll be super sweet, obedient, & helpful the next minute he's a maniac, tearing the house apart. However, I'm going to focus on the 1st minute :). He frequently will come up to me, wrap his arms around my neck, give me a big, wet kiss on my cheek & say, "Mmmm! I wuv you, Mommy!" It seriously makes my day when he does it... and makes me forget any awful things he did minutes before :)

Annual Labor Day Camping Trip

Can I just start out by saying how impressed I am with Blogger's enhancements?!?! It's SO easy to upload/ edit pictures now... Hallelujah!

Anyway, onto our trip! We headed up to the mountains late Friday night & then headed up to the campsite (where all of Anthon's family was) Saturday morning. I think it's pretty common knowledge that I despise camping, but I honestly was trying to have a positive attitude this trip for Anthon's sake. He does things with me all the time that I'm sure he hates, so why shouldn't I do the same?  

 Well, the camping started out lovely... the weather was perfect, the mountain was beautiful, there were plenty of toys to keep the boys happy, & visiting with family is always fun for me!

Honestly, my favorite thing  about camping is the clothes... retarded, right?!?! You're suppose to wear whatever clothes- ones that can get destroyed. But I think it's so fun to get to dress the boys up in warm hats & hoodies... there's not much need for that here in Mesa.

Here we are all snuggled up by the fire... Day 1 was lovely!

 Day 2, on the other hand, was a little bit of a nightmare! There were bees everywhere... I mean swarming us constantly! Roman got stung on his nose (like up by his eye) :( & I was terrified that Sterling was going to get stung! Thankfully, he didn't! He did, however, get sick :( & was a fussy mess the entire day! If you know Sterling, you know he's a super chill baby that hardly ever makes a peep... the kid was crying, fussing, moaning all day long, so we knew something was up! We ended up leaving that night to head back home & I took him to the Dr. today. It turns out that the poor kid has a viral infection & has had a fever of like 102º... not fun! Today has probably been the TOUGHEST day of my "motherhood career"- Sterling being so sick & crying almost non-stop, then Roman burning his hand on my flat iron right before Sterling's appointment, then crying because his hand hurts the entire time we're at the Dr.'s office (talk about the eyes of judgement being on us non-stop while we were there!), then Sterling having to be catheterized to make sure he didn't have a bladder infection/ UTI because of his hypospadias- resulting in more discomfort & screaming, & the list goes on and on... on top of me being TOTALLY sleep deprived (I'll be honest, I've had several crying melt downs today)!! Yeah, like I said, it's been a T.O.U.G.H day.

Anyway, back to our trip... The 2nd day wasn't completely miserable, we went on a ride in the Articat as a family to the tree Anthon carved our initials in way back in high school, and we added Sterling to it :)

Here we are waiting for Anthon to carve Sterling's name... He is SO white! Doesn't he look like a little corpse when he sleeps?!? So sweet & creepy at the same time!

Here's me & my Roman boy... Gosh I love this rotten, beautiful kid!

& here's the finished product! This was my favorite part of the trip... Just the few minutes we spent together, taking pictures & doing this little tradition we've started!

Before we came back home, we stopped at Anthon's parents house to steel some fresh veggies from their garden.I'm SO sad I didn't get pictures of it, but Roman had a BLAST! He loved searching for the red tomatoes & pulling them off the vine, catching lady bugs, & finding big zucchini's to pick! We'll have to do it again the next time we're up there, & NOT forget my camera!

So in a nut shell, the trip would have been perfect minus the bees & sick baby, but there's always next year to have that perfect camping trip :)

PS- I didn't take a whole lot of pictures this trip, but if you want to see all of them you can check out the album on Facebook by clicking HERE