Tiger picture

My dad bought my mom this picture when I was born. It reminded him of her taking care of me. When I got married, my parents gave it to me. I've had it hanging up in my house ever since then and it is now hanging in the boys' bathroom downstairs! I treasure this picture, so special that it has been around this long and has a story behind it!

Ridin'

There was no shortage of machines to ride on in NY. This post showed pictures of the boys on the 4-wheeler with Chris. They must've rode on that at least once a day, with almost every male there. That was probably their favorite as it went fast!

Then there was the big, blue tractor, which grandpa gave them rides on a few times.

I didn't even get pictures of all the stuff they rode on! They got to ride on the riding lawnmower while grandpa mowed the grass. There was also a little dirt bike that Chris' Uncle Kenny brought out and gave rides on. A little boys' heaven!!

Preston - 3 years old

My little baby boy is now 3. Time has sure flown by with him. Ever since he was old enough to move around on his own, though, he's been trying to be like and keep up with his brothers, so he's always seemed older than he is. He is such a joy to have in our family, always trying to do stuff to make people laugh and cuddling with anyone who wants!

Likes: fruit snacks, riding in Daddy's truck, wrestling, Buzz Lightyear/Toy Story, his train gangkey (i.e. blankie) and blue puppy, being included in his brothers' games

Dislikes: wearing a jacket, being told to "wait" or "be quiet", time outs and saying sorry, Sequoia licking his face

Happy birthday sweet Preston!

Tubing on the lake

Brayden and Logan got their first tube ride while in NY. They loved it!!! It was kind of chilly when they were out there, but it didn't seem to phase them. And then quickly in a towel to warm up afterwards.

Cousins

While we were in NY, the boys got to spend lots of time with their cousins, Isaac and Cadence. This was the first time they were together where they played together and got to know each other, especially Preston and Isaac.

Oh, and now, thanks to grandpa, they all have matching Yankees jackets! Thanks grandpa!
In a few years, we'll have to convince grandpa to get these girls some pink Yankees jackets. (I don't think it will be too hard!!!!)

Ashten - 3 months

Ashten is now 3 months old. She is looking bigger and bigger every day, she's definitely not a little newborn anymore.

She sleeps through the night about half the time now, maybe a little more. On the nights she gets up, she sleeps from about 8pm - 3 am and is up for about 20-30 minutes to nurse and then right back to sleep till 8 or 9 am. It's a very nice schedule, especially considering the rough start she had with sleeping the first few weeks.

She loves to be held, swing in her swing and lay on the floor. She is very close to rolling over. She loves to watch her brothers play and she even "catches her eye" (how Brayden puts it) on them quite often.

She has started "talking" to us. Just babbly sounds, but so cute. And if I act interested and keep responding and smiling, she'll just go on and on. I think we may have another talker in the family?

Happy Father's Day

I am so blessed to have such a wonderful man in my life, who is also a great father to our four children! I am so grateful that he is so invested in our children's lives and so dedicated to his job as a father. I love just sitting back sometimes and watching him do his thing with our kids - he is never more attractive to me than at those times when I see him totally engaged in being a father! There is just something so sexy about that!!

I feel like I don't do enough to show him just how much we all love him and respect all he does for our family. But no time like Father's Day, right? From taking on extra work so that I can be a stay-at-home mom, to being there for every game, concert, awards night, etc, to wrestling with the boys and doing things with them that he doesn't necessarily enjoy but he knows that they do, to doing almost every bedtime, including Bibles and stories, tucking in, etc....(the list goes on and on!) Everything he does, even the small things that he thinks we might not notice, we do! Thank you so much for everything, Chris (daddy!). We love you more than you'll ever know!Love, Gloria, Brayden, Logan, Preston and Ashten

The lake

When we were out in the NY visiting, the boys had a lot of fun playing in and around the lake.

Paddleboating....Swimming (even when it wasn't that warm).....

Playing in the rocks or relaxing on the dock.....

The boys had a great time!

Our trip to NY - seeing family

Last week we took a trip to NY to see Chris' family. Not NY as in the city, although Chris did go into NYC to see a Yankees game. His family all lives in upstate NY, really close to the PA border. They all live around this big lake, which the boys totally enjoyed. It was nice to see everyone. The last time we had been out there was 5 years ago, when Logan was Ashten's age. More posts will be coming as I have time to upload photos and write about the things we did.

Chris' mom's family - brothers, sisters and mom

Chris's mom's family with spouses

All the grandchildren (except one)

All the grandchildren + spousesAll the great-grandchildren

My new favorite picture

I've got tons of pictures and stories to share from our trip last week to NY. Those will come slowly throughout the week as I have time. But first, I just had to share this picture that I took today!