What Happened to Fall!

I know having a baby takes more of your time than you think, but I guess having 4 kids in general makes you set aside some of those things you once had time to do. So I am going with that as the reason we have taken a break from blogging. But also my stinkin computer would not let me post anything either. That is why I just barely was able to post the last one! So here is to a post wrapping up our fall events!!!

One of my little sisters just got married in August and for doing her flowers for her she treated me with an infant photo shoot from her sis-inlaw Jana. They turned out sooo cute and I couldn't have asked for a better gift. Thanks Amanda and Jana!!!!
Our annual trip to the pumpkin patch with corts brother and his family. This year we decided to make it a scout field trip as well so it was fun because my older boys love scouts and can't wait to be in there someday!!

We blessed our little Juder the first week of November. It was such a special day and we were able to have all of our family with us wich was even better. I cant believe that we blessed Gavin in that same outfit 6 years ago to almost the day.

Here they are all 4 of our "little blessings." Don't mind that our daughter looks like a groupie of a hair guitar band from the 80's.

Halloween night!

The boys decided to be ninjas/karate guys/ whatever the heck you want to call them! Malaya was a witch and we even taught her to say hehehehe as she moved her fingers. She was killing the neighbors with her witchy cuteness! And Jude was our little pumpkin.

We walked around the neighborhood and then went to the grandparents. They ended up with way more candy than we needed and some of it will probably make it to easter until we dump it out for that holidays loot!

Baby Jude

Baby Jude O'Dell Peterson or "Judo" as his brother call him was born September 23rd! He was 6lbs 5oz and 20in long. We are all in love with him and can't get enough of him. He is such a good baby and is already sleeping 4-7hrs at a time even through the night!!!!! This makes the momma so happy, especially since I am the one who gets up with him! We haven't decided who he looks like yet, but can see a little of all three kids in him.

11 days old

This is his favorite place to be! Wrapped up tight in his chair ready to fall asleep!!! We have to put it in the crib to keep him safe from extra helping hands!!!!

Getting ready to come home from the hospital. When we realized we would probably be coming home on the first BSU home game we had to make sure he came home in style! All of the pediatric nurses loved him and new he was baby Peterson from his outfit, because they were decked out in their BSU scrubs as well!

4 Already!

As most everyone knows we found out about our little christmas surprise a few months ago. And have waited patiently for about 10 weeks to see if we are going to have a little chico or chica joining our family. I thought for sure at first it would be a girl and then thought maybe a boy and as I polled the rest of the troops we were split down the middle! Cort, Malaya and I didn't care but Gav wanted another little sister and Noah was pretty sure he doesn't like girls and needed a little brother. So on friday we dropped them off at G & G Bunts and headed to the Dr. The ultrasound tech had a really hard time looking at the little stinker because it was sitting breech and across my stomach and not up and down. So we weren't sure if we were going to get to find out. For some reason all of my children are so shy in the womb and then after birth it is a different story. So we get to the part of the anatomy and she is pushing the little thing around trying to see anything and then there on the screen legs wide open I yelled " Is that what I think it is" and sure enough it is a BOY!!!! Boys will be boys I guess, no shame in letting loose!! We are all super excited except that Noah thought we were going in to have the baby and was mad we didn't bring him home. We are going to enjoy this summer but are equally excited about the end of Sept/ early Oct when we get to meet him!!!!

Backyard Makeover Post #2

I can't believe that this part of our backyard project is almost done! This is part of what our patio will look like. Cort dug out all the grass and then leveled it so it was ready for the concrete guys to come and pour. The big metal thing will be our fire pit once they dig it in the ground!

This is this morning as they were laying the forms for the concrete

This just shows a little more of the shape as it goes around the house. They boys loved to watch the motorized wheelbarrow. They brought all the concrete from behind the fence to the patio with it.

Here is what it looked like right before they started to pour.

I couldn't believe how fast they got the conrete in there and level. My battery died so I had to let it charge and they had the whole thing done by the time I could get more pictures. Cort has been at work and he is dying for pictures so most of this is for him.

I did have to get a picture of the concrete truck. I thought my boys were going to die the whole time it was here. They kept running from the couch to the back door so they could watch them pour it out

Just getting it smoothed out and the border cut. It looks so good! I can't wait until we can be out there using it!!!

Here is what it looks like now. It is all smooth we are just waiting for it to dry a little and then they will stamp it.

By the end of today we will have a new patio!!! Hurray we are so excited to be able to use it when the weather if it ever gets nice here!!! Almost time for bbq season. We are hosting easter dinner this sunday so hopefully we will be able to use it! (I say hopefully because it will probably rain!!!)

We have to thank our good friend TJ and his dad and brother for laying the concrete for us. They did an awesome job and it looks GREAT!!!!!

Backyard Makeover

When we moved in last summer we new there was a lot we wanted to do to the backyard. The previous owners hadn't done a whole lot with it and what they did do we weren't to excited to keep (lets just say a TON of rocks and sand! YUCK!!!!). So our big goal was to take this summer and do what we could to make it what we wanted. So instead of having the worlds largest blog post at the end of the summer I have decided to give you piece by piece throughout the summer. Hope you enjoy watching our amateur landscaping skills. And get a good laugh cause I am sure it will be comical!

After 2 days of jackhammering (sorry I forgot to take pictures, much to Corts dismay) the old patio was taken out piece by piece, LITERALLY!!! Cort did all of the lifting and putting in the truck with a little help from the boys. Hallalejiah it is all out now!!! In Cort's words "I think that will be the hardest part of the whole backyard!"

Here is the truck with its 2nd load to the gravel pit. It was so heavy I thought the truck was going to tip backward. Besides the gravel pit we had to take a bunch of crap they had behind the fence to the dump. It finally doesn't look like the dump behind our fence!!

This is the only part that hasn't been torn out yet. We are giving the neighbors a break from the jackhammer! And there is our tree! Cort has been eyeing this tree at Home Dapot for awhile and so it was purchased for our landscaping. Here is its home until we are ready to put it in the ground.

This will be full of plants in the not so distant future. We were pretty proud that it turned out so nice. Cort took a lot of time making sure that every stone was level. Now we just need more soil in it and then we can plant!

This entire spot where there is no grass was a giant kitty litter/sandbox!! We (Cort and I) hated this the most. Just imagine how much sand was in my carpet, rugs, couches, boy's shoes and pants pockets. Way more than I ever wanted!! So that was the first thing to go. We used a mini excavater and after a lot of laughs and some help from my dad and brothers it was gone. Now we just need to get our plants in so we can put down grass seed! I love grass!! Can I say that again I LOVE GRASS!!!!

Here is what it looks like with the concrete gone. Our little raker is trying to get all the small pieces in a pile. Such a good helper!!

I just have to say that I am really grateful for a wonderful husband that didn't complain about my inability to help with the heavy stuff, because I am prego, and all the other helpers we have had so far. I am sure we will have a lot more help as the project continues through the summer!

P.S. If you didn't catch that in the last paragraph, just thought we would let all those who didn't know that we are expecting baby #4 in sept/oct!!! Should be a fun summer project with a giant belly!

The lady that got killed!!

I have to say that my boys drive me crazy A LOT!!! But they are also so hilarious. Just listening to their conversations is like watching that movie " Out of the Mouth of Babes"

Noah thinks he is a gamer, but he asks me 3 out of the 4 times to play the game for him so he will win. Does it really count as him winning or have I really become a DS gamer!?

Posing at the Finnish cemetary in McCall while we were at Cort's step-grandma's funeral.

Two of the biggest nerds on earth just being themselves on the ice sculptures in McCall. We don't usually make our children stand in the freezing cold without their coats. We were taking pictures as we were leaving town.
So I have to tell this story of the funeral we attended in McCall. We were sitting in the viewing waiting for the family prayer to begin. We were about the only ones with small children, and the man saying the prayer was an older gentlemen. So he began the prayer and about 2 minutes into it Noah my 3 year old says out loud, " Mom is this lady getting baptized?" I answered ," No, honey she has passed away and is in heaven" So about 1 min later he asks in the same loud voice. "Are they going to put their hands on her head" answered, " No, she has died and is in heaven". At this point I realize this is going to be one long prayer!

In his curious little mind he continues to say things like, " What happened to her legs I can't see them?" and " Dad this is a looooooong prayer!" At this point I am chuckling quietly and also hoping the prayer will end soon. At the end Cort had clocked it being 8 min. 8 Minutes that is an eternity for 3 small kids to be quiet in an enclosed room.

So after when they closed the casket Noah turns to me and says, " Mom she can't breathe!" I obviously failed at explaining that she had passed on. So I just said," Noah she is dead and does not need to breathe. She is in heaven now" Cort and I were laughing so hard at what had happened in the family prayer. Mostly because these are the kind of conversations we have with Noah all the time.

The crowning part of the day was at the luncheon when Gavin asked me if he could go back the place where the lady was killed so he could play in the snow! (that was the cemetery, because there was about 3-4 feet of snow all around)

I was dying( figuratively) with laughter that my children were so confused about death and what happens when we die. I thought we had been to enough funerals that they kinda understood. I guess I was wrong!!

She is Walking!

Malaya is finally walking! It isn't like she is a late walker but she just had little interest in it around her birthday. Then one day she decided it was better on her feet than crawling.

This is the beginning of her walking

she would just stand and kinda dance with her one leg. I think she thought she was moving but she never went anywhere!

When she got serious this is how she got around for a few days. She was like a gimpy bear!

This the real reason she decided to walk, so that she could reign over Gidget instead of the opposite. They really are pretty good friends most of the time.

Now she is a pro and goes all over the place. I can't believe she is walking she is still so tiny!

P.S. I have to give my daughters hair a disclaimer: Regardless of what her father thinks it does get done everyday! When she lays down for her nap the first thing she does is rip out the bow and then the elastic with a chunck of hair. But then she takes it even farther and does whatever she needs to to destroy the bow so it won't have to go back in her hair. Little does she know her mother is a master with the hot glue gun!!!