Baby Boy Fillmore #4

This darling little boy will be arriving October 29th and we couldn't be more thrilled. We got to see him again today.

He waved this time!

This pregnancy has been so completely different that I thought for sure it was a girl. But after a rough two weeks and two ultrasounds, we were thrilled and relieved to see a healthy little boy in there.

The boys are all thrilled. Sterling Henry has come up with lots of names. His current favorites are Jet, Tractor, and Mac. He has also thrown out Water, Ducky, Pancake, and Light. It's fun to see him so excited. He calls the baby the "New" baby. Gouverneur is now called the "Old" baby.

We do love our boys and look forward to meeting this little guy!

Memorial Day 2012

We had a super laid back Memorial Day this year. The boys spent the morning working in the yard with dad. After lunch, we picked up this kiddie pool and spent the rest of the day like this.









I sat over to the side with my feet up in the shade. My kind of day!

We picked up Cafe Rio for dinner and spent the evening with the boys. We shared stories about our grandfathers who both served in World War Two for family home evening and then put the boys in bed.

Most relaxing Memorial Day ever.

Birthday Recap

I love it when birthdays fall on a Sunday. It makes for such a great day to celebrate. We had a BBQ for Gouv's 1st birthday celebration. We had over Colby and Maria and Alim, one of the young men from our ward.

Afterwards we had the cake. I had big plans of making this chocolate bunt cake into a monster truck raceway but sort of wimped out last minute. It was a little plain but delicious!

The big one-year-old with his cake.
The whole family. All 6 of us!

The boys with Colby, Maria, and Alim.

I think not frosting it was a good idea. Gouverneur picked it up and starting eating. I think the frosting sort of freaked out his older brothers on their first birthdays.

He ate.
And ate.
And ate. He LOVED IT!
We opened presents afterwards. Here is Colby holding them up in the air so that the big boys would stop trying to open them.
Here are the big boys "helping" Gouverneur open his gifts.
Here he is with his main gift. His first set of monster trucks. He looks thrilled. Sterling Henry and Dellin are even more thrilled. (I love my boys!)
Action time.
He's one!

We sure love this little boy and love watching him grow up. Happy Birthday Gouverneur!!!

LOOK WHO'S TURNING ONE!

Gouverneur turns one today and I have mixed emotions about the whole thing. We have enjoyed every single minute of this last year. Gouverneur is such a happy baby. He literally smiles all day long. He is also very silly and loves to make us all laugh. He is adored by two older brothers who love to give him hugs and kisses. Dellin calls him, "My baby".

This is what turning one looks like around here.

Gouverneur loves to do "downward dog" which he does about 25 times a day. We love it and laugh and finally got it on film.

His toes and feet are so insanely cute.

He loves to ride in the dump truck. I love that he fits in it.

When he's not riding in trucks, he's pushing them around. Pushing a car around is a serious right of passage for a little boy. Now he can really get in on all the car action with his brothers.

He loves to do "so big". He sticks his chubby little arms in the air and smiles.

Anything he does is always followed by clapping. Let's face it, he knows he's darling.

The cutest thing he started doing last week was folding his arms for the prayer. Melts my heart!
He stands but has not shown any interest in walking. Sterling Henry and Dellin both didn't walk till 14 months so we'll see if he beats them. I never encourage walking with my kids. I love the baby crawling mode and walking adds so much more trouble to the mix. I do love it when they hit that mark, but never feel rushed about them getting there.

He has 8 teeth.

He loves to mimic all noises.

He dances.

He loves to throw things but especially balls.

He loves to play Patty Cake and give high fives.

He can say, "mama, baba, ball, gaga (I think for grandma?), and the occasional "dada". My boys are all daddies boy so I'm sure he'll master "daddy" in no time at all!

He loves to give kisses and makes the cutest kissing noise!

12 month stats
Weight: 22 lbs. 10 oz. (50%)
Height: 30 inches (80%)
Head: 19 inches (90%)

Gouverneur, you are an absolute joy and we LOVE having you in our family. Thank you for bringing us so much happiness!

We're so glad when daddy comes home...

My boys are obsessed with their daddy. Around here, we actually call him "Daddycakes," but the boys do that more because I call him that. Sterling Henry likes to call him "Daddycakes Fillmore".

Sterling usually works till about 7:30 pm, sometimes later. If the boys are still up when he comes home, they attack him before he even changes out of his work clothes. This is pretty much an everyday occurrence. They even fight over who gets to take his socks off and to the clothes bin. This is real love we're talking about.


We usually have dinner before Sterling gets home. The boys are serious eaters and can really put it away. That doesn't stop them from attacking dad while he's eating his dinner.
Even Gouverneur gets in on more food. This is actually a picture at breakfast. The boys had all eaten before Dad, but then attacked him (and his food) when he ate later.

I love my boys. I love that they love their dad. I love that their dad is the kind of dad that he is. I'm one lucky lady!

Mothers Day 2012

Mothers Day just keeps getting better and better as the years go by. My life is so full and busy these days. (Whose isn't though right?!?) It's nice to have a day to sit back and be spoiled by my husband and darling boys.

I woke up to a darling card and beautiful rose plant. I'm requesting potted plants from here on out. They are so lovely and will last a long time. This rose plant sits perfectly in my kitchen. I will think of my boys every time I look at it.

Church was perfect. Sterling Henry is a sunbeam this year so it was his first time to go up and sing with the primary kids. I made sure we were super early so I could have the perfect seat while they sang songs to us moms. I LOVED IT!

After church we all napped and then the Grill Master started the amazing dinner I'd requested. All I can say is that I'm one lucky girl.

Super yummy chicken, sweet potatoes, onions, 2 kinds of peppers, zucchini, and asparagus. It was really yummy and just what I wanted.

Here we are right before eating.

I really do love my life. I love my darling boys. They can be crazy but I really wouldn't have it any other way. Best Mothers Day ever!

Working with Dad

Let me just start by saying that Sterling is the king of projects. One of the main things we love about this house is the huge backyard. Sterling was out mowing the lawn the first Saturday we lived here and he has loved doing it ever since. He has also done a lot of things to improve the yard. (Our landlord loves us.) He saved the driveway that was breaking up by adding a bunch of topsoil and sod. It looks a million times better and he finished it in one Saturday.

The last two Saturdays he has spent getting pickup loads of mulch and manure to spread all over the grass and for our garden. The grass is looking a million times better and our plants will be in the ground this weekend.

The boys absolutely love working with their dad. They will do anything he is doing, and he finds a way to make it really fun. They beg to go out and work with dad. They have their own shovels, hammers, wheel-barrel, lawnmower, and lots of other cool work stuff.

Here's Little Man unloading manure with dad.



And here's a video our friend Wes took of the boys helping their dad spread the manure on our lawn to make it awesome this summer.

The wood collecting is still going strong. Sterling had a guy drop off this cedar last week in front of our house.

The boys were thrilled that they got to help dad move it. I found this little wheel-barrel at a thrift store for 3 dollars. It has done a lot of work with dad. The boys love moving whatever dad is moving.

Dellin look so grown up pushing his own wheel-barrel. I keep telling him he's loosing some serious tough guy street cred with that binky!

Gouverneur watches from the porch and is chomping at the bit to get in on the action.
Boys sure are a lot of fun especially when they have the coolest dad around to spend time with. I sure hope they still feel this way when they are 16. Something tells me with a dad like Sterling, it won't be a problem!

Sleepover.

Our boys love to sleep in our bed about once a week, and I have admit, WE LOVE IT! Occasionally we wake up with a foot in our face and find that the boys are sleeping perpendicular to us.

Case it point.

This one of Dellin is pretty awesome as well.

We still love it!

Pictures of the boys.

These are the three pictures I got taken and framed for dad's birthday. They are now hanging in his office. Tabitha did a fabulous job. I am thrilled with all the pictures she took of the boys!




This last picture of Dellin is almost more than I can handle. He looks so old and grown up here. It makes me want to cry. This shoot was his 2-year photo shoot and he is just darling!

I want to have a nice 2-year old picture of the kids all in the same sort of pose. Here is Sterling and Dellin's pictures.



They look so official and I think it will be fun to have one of all our kids at this age.

Free Stuff

We live in a pretty sweet area for lots of reasons. One thing I love is the fact that people give away lots of totally cool stuff. We have picked up some great things since moving into this house. All of these things were free for the taking and we were happy to take them.

Sterling picked up this jeep and 4-wheeler last fall.


Let's not forget the amazing rocking chair we found last summer right after Gouverneur was born. It was the only piece of furniture we had for months in our front room.




I have been dying to get some backyard toys and have been searching craigslist like crazy. We found these while my mom was here. This castle/slide thing rocks. The boys absolutely love it.



We picked up this sweet car the same night on the next street over.

We must be living right (or just living in the right area) to find all these great toys for free. The boys love them. You better believe that I have my eye out for more things. I keep you posted on what else we find. One man's trash...