Hey, Omah!

Mac & cheese kind of day

We had macaroni & cheese for dinner tonight. It had been a busy day & dinner planning & prep were completely neglected. the boys did not seem to mind in the slightest. We had a realtor stop by today to give us a listing price & do some preliminary strategy planning. We are looking at our options. We might move, we might not. But if we get what the realtor thinks we will...this little momma will have a HUGE smile! We really did put a ton of love & elbow grease into this place (us & austin finklea. haha) The realtor had seen the house pre-jennifer sclater, & was pretty excited about the profit we now stand to make. which was the whole point in buying a scary fixer-upper to begin with. So because I was busy with all that today dinner was 1 pot, 4 bowls & some cheesy smiles!

A day in the life...

and every second in between!
Can you imagine how absolutly exhausted our little peaunut was after all that crying?! He finaly cloanked out at 7:45pm. Sweet baby Maddox, we sure love him through it all! He deffinitly domonates this momma's prayers with his tiny digestive problems.

Its always fun when Grandpa comes...

when grandpa comes hooray!
He always says the kindest things & in the kindest way
He has a wrinkly twinkly smile
hes happy all the day.
Its always fun for everyone when Grandpa comes!
(Children's songbook)

My mom & dad arrived today, & the boys were just too excited! They love their Omah & Opah. When they come to visit its as if they never left to begin with. My dad is only here for tonight as he has to be in Cincinnati for work in the morning. But he was kind enough to stop by with a very special gift from my grandparents---A MICROWAVE!!! Yay! Ours died in a fire a few months back, & since i t was unexpected we did not have money in the budget to replace it. But grandparents were SUPER generous & gave us one! So my dad installed it tonight with Rod since he has to leave by 6am tomorrow. The boys had a lot of fun watching their Opah & Daddy work side by side. I cant even express the gratitude to my grandparents...I don't even know what to do with a microwave anymore. haha. Its been so long. ha. & I am happy my dad was able to join my mom in the visit..even if just for one night.

Our humble start...

I have a happy place. 990 east, 620 north Provo Utah. When the kids are going bazerk & Im about to pull out my last 2strands of hair I go there. My place is where our little family started...just 1 baby, that was easy & the house was always clean because this momma had time to fold laundry. My neighbors were my friends (& boy do I miss them! That means you Marta, Camree, Mauri & Sara & Charlie!)& life seemed to move a bit slower. I found time to litteraly stop & smell the roses taht grew in our back yard & found fun in raking the leaves that fell from the big tree in the front yard that littered the ENTIRE street. That was our first real home as a family. It was beautiful to us. so... When the day gets to be too much I can reflect on how we were blessed then...& how we are blessed now & how we inevitably will be. When I have an attitude like that...I can take on 3 crying babies & do it with a smile.
This was our start...

Our (almost) wordless Wednesday

(I said "no" to britt about 300 times..till I caved & let him in the swing. haha. silly guy! Tre has strep & an ear infection...again. poor pal.)

Aint no party like a Finklea party...

okay okay confession...I waited till laura posted her sons birthday pictures so I could steal them from her blog & put them on myown. haha. I forgot my camera at home & was disapointed..cause lets face it, Finklea birthday parties are always a blast & very entertaining! Yummy food, fun friends & a naughty Britt who was very jealous of all ashton's birthday treasures. I think we have hit the twos. Laura made a fabulous treat taht I had never even thought of..ice cream rolled in crumbled cake with a chocolate sauce over it. I was on a diet...until then. haha. I made an exception...and darn glad I did. Ashton was darling & just devored his cupcake! Tre had so much fun, & made a special place in his bedtime prayers for our now 1 year old little pal Ashton. We sure love those finkleas! It was a lot of fun.
& now for the confiscated pictures...
(my only defense is that Rod took some of the pictures for them. haha)

Aquarium visit

I had meant to post these before..but didnt for whatever reason. We took the 3 amigos to the aquarium in Gatlinburg TN, about 2 hours away from our home. It is a really darling little place that is supposed to look like an old german village. We had a lot of fun. Rod & I were uber lovey dovey for no reason at all. We were overly excited to have a whole day with the kids with little to no studying involved. The boys were thrilled to pieces with the outing. Britt & Tre watched & ran eagerly from exhibit to exhibit. Maddox slept all snuggled in the sling until we stopped for a snack at the end of our tour. We have such sweet boys!

Reunions & Farewells

I was reunited with some old friends yesterday. I had abandoned them while in my last months of pregnancy & again after delivery for chocolate & treats. But I decided to make "tomorrow" today & seek out these familiar friends. I used to spend hours a day with them...I thought it would be hard to meet up with them again, but it was almost as though we had never parted. They are slowly forgiving me for all the sweets I chose over them. I am happy to say these two dear friends will now be back in my daily life! so watch this mommy melt!


But this reunion does not come without sacrafice. I now must bid a sad farewell to my oversized portions & my obsession with anything chocolate or baked. Solong sweets! If you ever really loved me you will make this easy on both of us & stay away!