A Glimpse into the Future

This is the conversation that I had with Gavin the other day.

Gavin: Mom, I'm going to marry Sofia.

Me: Ok, well, did you tell that to Sofia?

Gavin: Yep. (Long pause) Mom, what do you have to do to get married anyway?

Me: Well, you have to buy Sofia a ring, Sofia has to buy a white dress and then you guys have to go to a church and you have to promise that you will love her and take care of her forever.

Gavin: (LONG pause and then very matter of factly) But Mom, I'm only 4.

This was such a cute moment with Gavin! It was so funny because it was truly like he realized that he's only 4 and he can't possibly get married now!

I'm not sure that 20 years from now when we have this conversation it will be near as cute...I'll certainly be bawling my eyes out because my baby is getting married!

As Promised....

Here's a picture of Jacob's new adventure/animal themed room! Don't mind Gavin's hand in the corner of the picture...



I still need to get some pictures and accessories, but I'm pretty happy with how it turned out. We're looking for a large old looking world map for the wall and maybe some kind of animal picture on canvas. He's also got a black bookshelf that we're going to put a bean bag chair next to for reading, but it wouldn't fit in the picture.

Jacob is loving his new room and feels so grown up having a queen size bed. He even told me, "I can't believe I have a queen size bed. It's only 2 sizes away from the biggest bed size, a California King. Man, I'm getting big!" Too funny! Now if he could just keep it this clean...

By Request....

Here's the table in my dining room!




I think I am going to paint the walls a different color and get some new window treatments too! That will have to be a project for another day though... I just finished moving Jacob into a different bedroom, painting, buying new furniture and bedding and now all I need is accessories. His room looks very grown up now, so mission accomplished, but I'm done with home improvement projects for the next month or two! I'll post pictures soon.

The Table

It all started when I saw this




when I was out shopping. I saw it, I sat down and I imagined myself surrounded by the boys and Joel having dinner, and I LOVED it. Not that I NEEDED a new dining room set, but I LOVED it, so I went home and told Joel that I had found the dining room set that I had been looking for. Of course his first response was, "How much is it?" Once the most important questions had been answered, he said, "Sell your dining room table and we'll go get it." I was so excited!

Before I did anything drastic, I went back to the store with Joel and the boys and asked all of them what they thought about the table. Joel liked it and the boys, well, they told me that they liked our old one better and it was too high. Jacob also informed me that it wouldn't look good in our dining room. All of that aside, I decided to sell my table. I called a friend who had previously admired it and asked if she was interested and it was SOLD!

So, we went out and bought the table. As soon as the table was in the dining room, I got that sinking feeling. You know, the one where you KNOW you've made a mistake and you can't take it back? I had sold my table, spent money on something that was not necessary and then helped carry the 180 pound table and eight 25 pound chairs up the numerous stairs to my front door for this! Jacob was right, it didn't look good in our dining room... Seriously, how did a 9 year old boy know it wouldn't look right in our dining room when I didn't? Thing is, I think I KNEW it wouldn't look right, I just WANTED it to look right!

So now I'm stuck with this great dining room table that I love in a room that I hate...guess I need to get a new house!

Gavin, Reading?

Gavin and I have been working on "school" on and off for a few months now. At his age, the other boys were never even remotely interested in reading or school stuff, but Gavin is. I figured I'd attempt to teach him to read, even though he has a year and a half before he will be in kindergarten, so I bought a Hooked on Phonics Kindergarten Curriculum Kit. It has tons of great stuff in it for reading, writing and math.

I can't believe how much knowledge he has soaked up! He can identify ALL of his uppercase letters, most with sounds and all but 7 of his lowercase letters! Once he knows all of his lowercase letters we will move on to reading! He actually read the word CAT this afternoon! He can count to 40, which is pretty exceptional since they want them to count to 20 by the time they get to Kindergarten. We have been working on handwriting by learning how to hold a pencil properly and drawing lines in various ways. After he masters his lines we can move on to writing letters.

I'm so excited for him! I hope he continues to love learning throughout his days in school and beyond.

It's Just a House

I know we are behind, but tonight the boys and I pay-per-viewed "Up". We had a great night together! We had fun eating junk food for dinner - cherry pie, ice cream and popcorn! The boys loved the movie and I actually enjoyed it as well (in spite of my tears!). It was nice to take the time to sit and watch with them as opposed to doing dishes or something else while they are entertained.

The line in the movie, "It's just a house" really touched me. It's nice to be reminded of what is important in life, and it's not the things. The people, experiences, relationships and memories, those are the things that last for a lifetime.

So, in honor of the movie "Up", I am chronicling the memory we made tonight, a night of junk food, laughter, tears, snuggling and fun. A memory I hope my boys will always remember.

My First Post!

After much thought, I've finally decided to start a blog! Since it's the beginning of a new year I thought it would be a perfect time to get started. My main goal in all of this is to be able to save some of the memories I have of our growing family and the boys lives. Pictures and videos are amazing memories, but there are so many things that happen and words that are spoken that you just can't get on film. Here's a little about each of the boys.


Jacob - Age 9 - He's a typical oldest child, responsible, cautious and eager to please. Jacob loves animals and plans to become a zoo keeper. He loves to travel and has quite a list of places he'd like to go. He's exceptionally smart, but tends to doubt his abilities. He's got an incredible imagination and is very creative. He also happens to be very kind, compassionate and generous. He's a wonderful older brother and he loves his brothers. He stays out of trouble and aside from an occasional reminder about his attitude, we rarely have any trouble with him.


Keaton - Age 7 - The middle child. Keaton is in love with all things mechanical and wants to design and build cars for a living. He is independent, but plays well with others. He's constantly building things and taking things apart. Sometimes the taking things apart gets him into trouble (for example, smashing a robot against the wall to see what's inside). He's the kid that other kids want as a friend. He cries easily when he thinks he's in trouble or when things aren't right in his world. He's sweet and compassionate, much like Jacob, but is very deliberately compassionate. For example, he knows how I hate to be at home without any of my kids, so he'll ask if he should stay with me and keep me company even if he'd be giving up going somewhere he really wants to go. He loves his brothers and his family and especially his cars and magnets that he builds with.


Gavin - Age 4 - The Baby. Gavin is sweet, cuddly and mischevious. He's big for his age and has been described as a "gentle giant" by his preschool teachers. He's a Mommy's boy and loves to sit on my lap, hug, kiss and snuggle with me. He adores his older brothers and wants to be just like them. He's prone to accidents and has knocked out his 2 front teeth and had stitches 3 times in his little life! He makes a lot of messes and I always wonder what's going on when he's quiet. When he was smaller I would find eggs broken all over the kitchen floor because he would go the refrigerator and throw them out. He loves cars and shares a room with Keaton. He's what some would refer to as "the golden child" because even when he's doing wrong, he's just so sweet and cute that it's hard to be mad for long.


Joel - My Husband - We have been married for 12 years and still enjoy living life together. Joel has to be about the hardest working guys around. He's one of those guys who can pretty much do anything from building a house to building a business. Despite his busy schedule he still makes time for the boys and they LOVE playing with their Dad. When we got married I know people thought we were crazy... maybe we were, but I still think it was the best choice I could have ever made.






And then, there's me. Bristelle, Mom to 3 of the most amazing boys and wife to Joel. I love to do stuff with and for the kids, bake, spend time with friends and family (at least most of my family), plant flowers, scrapbook, sleep, eat out and my very favorite thing to do.....travel! I wish I had more free time and money and I would go SO many places.

So, this is my introduction to the bloggy world. I look forward to looking back over the posts in this blog in the coming years and remembering more of the little things in life.