WARNING: This will be a long, all-over-the-place post as I attempt to cover the last few months of Raban living for our family. Here are some items worth mentioning:

Snow-- we didn't see a whole lot of snow, but we enjoyed it while it lasted for a few days mid-November:

Hunter's snow suit reminded me of the little boy from 'A Christmas Story' who couldn't put his arms down; it was fun to see him meet snow for the first time.

Christmas-- we had a great Christmas season. Even though Rusty and I kept our gifts simple for the boys (they each got 3 gifts), they were spoiled still as both sets of grandparents and other family members were in town. It was great to see many of our siblings and cousins, and the boys loved all the excitement of the season-- the tree, lights and decorations, and waiting for Santa.

Our tradition-- opening jammies on C-mas eve; me with 2 of my sisters

Hunter, the C-mas grump (after being scolded by g-ma); still sulking much later with daddy (he does the "mean look" really well)

Mason's Birthday- hard to believe, but this guy turned 4 on Jan. 8th. Can't imagine life without him! He is so happy and upbeat all the time (except for this one time I can remember). His favorite things to do are to put together puzzles and hang out with Cole. With only 17 months age difference, they are close, and I love that! Usually he loves to be around Cole (except for this one time that I can remember):

Here is the "one time I can remember"; Dressing up as Peter Pan around Christmas-time. Mason likes costumes.

Rusty's Birthday- Rusty turned the big "32" on Jan. 29th. What an old man! Actually, I'm 3 months older than him, so I guess I can't talk about age. The boys and I had a surprise planned for him that he'd briefly hinted at months before-- wanting his truck windows tinted. I had it all figured out, but getting it done was quite the challenge. To make a long story short, our 12:00 appointment that was supposed to take 2 hours (and was planned perfectly as we'd play with friends during that time), ended up taking until about 6pm. Fortunately, Rusty's parents were in the area and came to get the boys from me as I was stuck in the tinting place's lobby with the 3 boys (and their carseats and gear). It was much easier to wait alone, without trying to occupy my boys in a waiting room for 4 hours. I was unhappy with the waiting game and the unexpected changes, but Rusty had to work late that night so we still made it home before him and he was surprised, so our crazy day was worth it. We enjoyed dinner with his parents and brothers the next night. Low key and perfect. Happy Birthday to a great husband and father!

I should have done a before/after picture of his truck, but I forgot and only managed to capture this one a few days later.

Feeding baby cows- Rusty's mom helps distribute bread to some needy families and often ends up with more than she can handle. With them living out in Enumclaw, there are plenty of farm animals and farmers who take the left-overs. Jan 31st, we went with her to give some to a farmer, who in turn had us help him feed the newborn cows their bottles. The boys loved the animals we got to see. Cole and Mason wanted baby cow #10 to be theirs. "Why can't we have a cow?" Ummm, how do you explain to a 4 year old why a cow can't live at your house? They weren't buying any of the reasons I gave.

Mason gets glasses- Cole needed his '1 year since getting glasses' check up, so I just lumped on an appointment for Mason since we'd already be there. I didn't expect it, but Mason's eyes are very similar to Cole's-- they even have the same prescription, just Mason has a slight astigmatism. While Cole was at school, Mason and I went to choose out his glasses. I showed him the whole wall of children's frames and said he could choose any that he wanted. He quickly pointed at one saying, "I want that one!" I didn't care what he chose, as long as he liked them. I remember thinking that they looked similar to Cole's, but it wasn't until we picked them up a week later and got home, that we saw that they are the exact same. And with the same prescription, we've already had to color-code them for the boys. They really look like twins most days-- both so darn cute when they put on their glasses in the morning!

And luckily, we've ordered some back-up pairs. Their glasses sometimes take quite the beating from their rough-housing episodes.

Busy Body Hunter- I wanted to add a bit about Hunter. I can't believe that he will be 2 very soon. He is talking more, loves playing with his brothers, and is a lot of fun for us. But he is one busy kid, as anyone will tell you. He keeps me on my toes! We gave up naps months ago because he's been climbing out of his bed for that long, so unless he falls asleep while in the car... let's just say we have some long, rough days and just do the best we can 'til he crashes!

Before/During/After
I promise, Hunter was not harmed during this (despite the desperate look on his face). He recently got his first haircut/buzz. Sad to see the baby hair go, but it was all over the place and driving me crazy how I'd snip at all the little fly-away pieces whenever he wasn't looking. I'm hoping it grows back soon and a little more evenly this time.

A little about this kid's daily activities-- which mostly include climbing (on what, it doesn't matter) but usually pushing a chair to the counter and playing in the kitchen sink or cupboards. I know the sound of a chair going across the floor well, and headed to the kitchen the other day when I heard it. I was too late, and found a powdery mess. He'd found a box of doughnuts and was helping himself. When I grabbed the camera, he looked at me and stopped mid-bite to say "cheese". Funny kid-- always the entertainer!

Another thing Hunter likes to do is be in just his diaper, like many little kids. But the first thing he usually does without clothes is crawl in someone's bed and get under the covers, or grab a blanket and pillow and snuggle up with them on the floor somewhere. It's really cute to see, just wish somedays he would get sleepy while doing it-- say, around nap time!

Hey, I can wish, right?

Bosum Buddies

Cole & Wesley

Born on the same day, they think they are twins. Both equally crazy! It's fun to get them together; but I'm afraid we're in for lots of trouble as they grow up.

Halloween 2010

This year, we had Zorro, a frog, and a sleepy lion!

Hunter hated his costume (but had to follow after his 2 brothers who also had turns to be cute lions on past Halloweens). We practiced wearing it lots at home, hoping he would get used to it and be okay for a few hours at our Trunk-or-Treat. And it's a good thing I took a picture of him at home, since this is what happened on our way to the church-- fell asleep in the car and then slept on the floor of the church! It was so noisy in there, but he slept 'til it was time to go outside for the candy. I guess he knew what the important part was!

Cole; Mason; trunk-or-treating with Wesley and cousin Ryder

Thomasson Family Farm 2010

We really love Thomasson Family Farm! We finally visited this pumpkin patch last year after endless recommendations from several people (including my OB Dr.). We never knew what we'd been missing, and we were anxious to go again! They open Oct. 1st and we were there on the 2nd!! They have so much to offer for little ones! We enjoyed perfect weather, and great family fun! Prepare for pictures galore--

Arriving with our cousins; Hunter was pouting-- he'd been scolded by g-ma for wandering away and would not look at the camera for anything!

Riding the tractor train, and the horses!

Loving the tractors in the sandbox; visiting the animals

Some serious rubber ducky racin'. (And tasting, of course!)

Daddy & boys playing in the corn and getting buried. Cole & Mason loved it, and so did Hunter as you can see (ha, ha). He had the biggest tears; what torture!

Hunter is dubbed "the wanderer" cuz he's either coming or going, but never staying for long!

Child labor-- lots of effort, but going nowhere; Grandma Cherie Ann helps out

I seriously cannot say enough about how much we love this place! If you are local, I encourage you to visit-- once or twice. In fact, Cole's preschool class has a fieldtrip there next week, and we are super excited to go again!

So here I am, playing catch-up again (suprise, surprise) on a very neglected blog....
Seems like lots has been happening the last month or so; here's a condensed list of what we've been up to recently:

• Rusty's business is getting busier since they had their booth at the Puyallup Fair. He's hired 2 more guys now and is running his 2nd truck. Typical of this time of year. Good for business, bad for us seeing him anytime before dark.
• Plus, it's hunting season-- Rusty was stalking a bull elk for a while with his bow, but had no success getting the perfect shot! He's also been out for bear. He's thrilled about a trip next week to hunt in Idaho-- I swear he's been planning this trip for a year or more.
• We've decided to go deeper with our house remodeling, and move forward with that immediately (well as soon as I get us packed up). Our summer trip to Idaho may have had something to do with that. We've been in our fixer-upper house for over 5 years now and it's been a struggle chipping away at the projects one-by-one, as money, time and sanity permit. I know, something about starting your own business (and having your "house remodel" savings go to that), having 3 little kids, and keeping the space livable 'midst construction may be a few reasons for being so slow-- but it's still taking forever at the rate we've been going. So we've decided to bite the bullet and just move out for a few months (and stay with my parents) while we tear into everything. So, I've been trying to get the whole house packed up for that. And this is taking me forever, as I'm trying to go thru things and downsize at the same time.
• Rusty recently got put into the Elder's Quorum Presidency again and I got called to be the Primary Secretary in our ward. I'm excited for a change and to be with the kids and get to see Cole more in there, and Mason as he becomes a Sunbeam in January. Struggle for me was that the call came when I was in the middle of planning a Super Saturday for Relief Society. Talk about unexpected, but I guess callings usually are. So I had a few weeks of craziness as I was doing double duty-- super busy in two different callings. But now that Super Saturday is over, and my marshmallow shooter class has been taught, I am done in Relief Society. I still haven't been released from Enrichment Leader (or whatever they call it these days), but I'm assuming I won't have to do both jobs for too much longer-- fingers crossed! And we now have a Primary Sacrament Meeting Program we've been planning for later this month, so that's been fun to work on. And now that Hunter is 18 months, he can go to nursery!! What a great milestone! He is already known as the "crayon eater". Hey, all nurseries are bound to have one of those, right?



• I decided to wait on sending Cole to Kindergarten this year. Some of you may know-- he has an August birthday so he could've gone either way. He would've done fine had he gone, I'm sure. I just didn't feel a rush, and he didn't seem to care either. Here's what he drew on one of his first days as they talked about friends-- I think it's super cute. He's on the left of course with the 'cool glasses' (as he's calling them), and his friend Wesley is on the right:

• One by-product of having Cole in school is the one-on-one/one-on-two time that I get to spend with Mason and Hunter. I think they need this, especially Mason! And although Cole is a great big brother, it's neat to see the other two on their own and out of Cole's shadow (if that makes sense). Cole has preschool in the afternoon and I'm still trying to adjust our days and schedules (and a nap for Hunter) around that time. I've gotten deep into couponing the last 6 months or so, and so Mason and Hunter have become my sidekicks and have learned some of the stores quite well. We often go while Cole's in school. They can tell you where the toy aisles are in both Rite Aid and Walgreens. Very valuable information, for sure. Now you know how I bribe them!





• A friend from church recently had the cutest "little man" party for her 1 year old, and my boys just loved her bow ties and mustaches. They wore them for 2 days straight. Here they are showing off:



• We currently have a little cousin, Ryder visiting with us for about 10 days. My brother and his wife are in Germany and for some reason didn't want a 2 year old tagging along on their overseas adventure. C'mon, why not?? That would have been quite adventurous, I'm sure! Anyways, talk about boys in all directions at my house!! We have a husband, a 5 year old, a 3 year old, a 2 year old, and a 1 year old (who is probably worse than the other 3 combined, if truth be told), and 1 semi-sane mom. My mom so perceptively pointed out to me today that "really Nea, they could all be yours. Had you not had the gap between Mason and Hunter, you could've had another one in there." Hmm, food for thought. And fortunately not true! Well, even though life is crazy for us now (okay, when is it not?), we are still finding time to dress-up and "save the day" often.
  

Hope life is not so crazy in other parts of the world! Maybe it's just mine???