Monday, January 30, 2012

Ahead of the game

One of the things I love about William's school is that he doesn't have school on Fridays. This gives us 1 day during the week that we get to have fun together, just me and the boys. This past Friday we decided to have a crafty morning. 
The boys got a jump start on their valentines for their school friends. Not exactly "high quality" work here, but they had a blast!

Thursday, January 26, 2012

the brothers

There's nothing sweeter than 3 boys loving on each other...

until someone gets tired...
(poor baby gets man-handled by his brothers!)

Tuesday, January 24, 2012

the munchkin

Ok, all you baby stalkers (you know who you are)... here are some new pics of "Crew boy" (that's what my dad calls him). And while you looking, make a comment...




I don't know about you, but I can't get enough of this little munchkin!

Wednesday, January 18, 2012

Photo Compilation

It's been several weeks since I've unloaded pictures from my iPhone. As I was doing an update, I realized that I have several treasures!
I love this shadow pic of all 5 of us. The only problem is that you can't see Crew who is
safely tucked away in my sling.

it was a BEAUTIFUL day on Hudson's birthday, December 31

everyone loves morning cuddles with Crew!
We went to the zoo when Trent and Paige were here. They bought the boys each a year-long
membership for their birthdays. It's the gift that keeps on giving!!

Dave was on "daddy duty" while I was teaching piano lessons...

Crew was thoroughly enjoying a quiet house when my parents took William and Hudson
to Oklahoma for a few days.
I think Crew is about to be done with swaddling, don't you think?

We bought Crew an exersaucer the other day, and he's LOVING it! He's still a little wobbly, but
if his arms are propped up in front of him he's usually safe. His feet don't touch the ground yet,
but he doesn't seem to mind.

William LOVES to draw. He drew this the other day, and he was just SURE daddy and
Aunt Tasha would love it. (We're still working on the cheesy grin...)


Tuesday, January 17, 2012

33?!

It is still very strange to me and Dave and I are in our 30's (Dave is ahead of me by TWO years). Besides the fact that we have 3 kids, I still think of ourselves as just out of college.
We had a low-key birthday celebration. Dave requested pulled pork, mashed potatoes, asparagus, and key lime pie for dinner. No problem. I whipped up 3 Pioneer Woman recipes, and she did not disappoint. I also got him his favorite beer, New Castle.
not pictured: super yummy Key Lime pie!
some new Old Friend slippers from my sister. If you've
been to our house this winter you know how
desperately he needs these!
he'd really been wanting the new Tiger Woods golf for
the Wii. It now includes August National, which I'm told is
exciting because it's the first time it's "out there" to be played
on video games. Yeehaw. Where's Nick when I need him (MOLLY!)?
my personal favorite from me and the kids: Coldplay tickets!!
I got the tickets to go with Tasha and Christian in June,
and I have no doubt it'll be a BLAST!

Monday, January 16, 2012

Captivated by the lights!

Crew loves the playgym! He will stare and stare at the musical, light-up star practically endlessly. He hasn't started "batting" at the toys, but he's definitely noticed that they're there.

I call this look the "blue steel", but Dave calls it the "magnum." If you don't get it, you really need to watch Zoolander!

Sunday, January 15, 2012

Racing

I sat down on the couch to feed Crew the other day, and I looked behind me to find this:

Apparently, they were racing. Looks like Lightning McQueen was in the lead...

Saturday, January 14, 2012

A Few new Tricks

Crew has discovered a few new things this week (well, in recent weeks). He loves his tongue! He will almost always copy us when we stick our tongue out, and he thinks it's so funny. 

Also in the last week he has discovered his hands. It was so funny because one day he grabbed his hands together, and then looked at them like "oh my, look at these things attached to me!" He'll just stare and stare at them. (You would think on our 3rd go-around with babies, it wouldn't be newsworthy to me, but it's just as exciting as it was with William and Hudson)

Crew has been really good with holding his head up lately. Sometimes he's still a little "bobble-head-ish," but he's gotten quite stable. So, yesterday we tried out the Bumbo. Yep, he was ready! He loved being able to sit up and watch his brothers play.


I just love his "Crew" shirt, and it's finally not looking like a dress, although it's still a little too big. William was so excited that Crew was wearing it yesterday, so he immediately put his on. Hudson didn't want any part of the matching, as this shirt isn't "cool" enough for him.

Monday, January 9, 2012

4th Birthday Party!

Hudson had his first "friends" birthday party last night. We had it at The Little Gym, and it was a BLAST! We had 18 kids there, and I think every single one of them ran themselves ragged. 


We came home, and Hudson opened all his gifts before bed. He really didn't need anything new with just having had Christmas and gifts from family. But, 1)he's never had a friend party before this year, so I wanted him to have fun with the whole friend party experience and 2)I don't want to punish him for having a birthday right around the holidays!
He made out like a bandit too!  He got some awesome gifts: Legos, Transformers, Trucks, Coloring books, Puzzles, Books, and Cars 2 paraphenalia.
I guess that's the end of celebration Hudson's 4th. 
Hudson, Crew and I celebrated Aunt Ami's birthday today with her. Hudson picked out her birthday gift (it was a hit!), and we treated her to lunch at Mi Cocina. Next up: Dave (13th), Uncle Trent (22nd), William (Feb 1), Mimi (Feb 17), and Emery and Aunt Paige (Feb 26). There's a light at the end of the birthday season tunnel!

Sunday, January 8, 2012

The best burger?

We have had a long standing debate with some of our friends about where to get the best burger around here. We have several "fast-casual" hamburger joints that we like to frequent. These are not fast food, but not sit-down-order-with-a-waiter restaurant. There are 4 places that we all argue about what's best. We finally decided to put it to the test. We got 5 couples, and we decided to hit all 4 places in one night. Last night was that night.

Dave and another guy were super hungry, so they decided they'd split a burger at each place. The remaining 8 of us would split 2 burgers at each place, which would end in each of us eating 1 full burger by the end of the evening. We told each restaurant when we ordered what exactly we were doing so that they could have the opportunity to be on their A-game.

Each restaurant had 4 categories that we rated (Burger: bun, toppings, and meat. Fries. Atmosphere/Service. Overall Experience), with each getting rated 1 to 5. Each restaurant could get a total of 300 points. The best a burger could get would be 150.

This was our first stop for the evening. It was good, I have to say. The burger was good, but the bun was the highlight for most of us. It was buttered and toasted, which really made a huge difference.
 The burger had 3 categories to judge: bun, toppings, and meat. I felt like the meat was a little dry...too well done, and not a whole lot of seasonings.
The fries were a big part of the evaluation. Chapps did not impress me with their fries. They were crispy enough, and they were fresh...but too many of the fries had the skins on them. I felt like they were the "bottom of the barrel."
Burger score: 116
Overall Chapps score: 243

Our next stop was Mooyah

 The bun stole the show here. It was a.m.a.z.i.n.g. They cook their buns on-site, and they're amazing. I will admit that it would have been even better if they'd buttered and toasted it, but it was still amazing nonetheless. The meat was fantastic. It was slightly pink in the middle, and the flavor/seasoning was scrumptious.
 The fries were also good. The nice thing about the fries at this place is that we ordered 1 large fry and it was enough for all 10 of us. It's great value, and they are super yummy.
Burger score: 118
Overall score: 229

Stop number 3 was Five Guys
 The burger here was good, but I have to say that the bun was not good. It was WAY too small for the meat/toppings. This made for messy burger, which isn't gonna get high ratings.
 The fries were fantastic...pretty comparable to the fries at Mooyah.


All 10 of us!
Burger score: 114
Overall score: 232

Our 4th and final stop was Kincaids, a Fort Worth original
 The meat was decent, the bun was despicable, and the toppings were average.
 The fries were on par with fast food.
It's kind of unfortunate because we all really wanted Kincaids to win. It's a fun place with picnic style seating, it's local and fantastic service.  It just didn't cut it this time. My friend Jason enthusiastically noted: "It's like a picnic in here!" To which Kyle replied: "Like a picnic with a crappy burger." That about sums it up.
Burger score: 89
Overall score: 179

So, while Chapps won the overall competition with 243 (5 Guys: 232, Mooyah: 229, Kincaids: 179), Mooyah won best burger with 118 (Chapps: 116, 5 Guys: 114, Kincaids: 89)
One comment was: "If you put a Mooyah bun on a 5 Guys burger, you've got yourself a winner."

We ended the evening back at my house with some Pioneer Woman's Milky Way cake (YUM, by the way). It was so much fun!!! We're looking forward to our next evaluation: pizza!

Saturday, January 7, 2012

ALL boy

My parents got back from Europe on Wednesday evening, and they decided to take the big boys to Oklahoma for 2 days. My dad needed to get a bit of work done before they leave for Brazil next week, so my mom thought it would be fun to get to spend some concentrated time with the boys and give me a little break at the same time. So, they left Thursday evening (another benefit of having William at a school that doesn't have school on Friday!), and they'll be back later tonight.
Yesterday afternoon they spent the afternoon with Papa at the leases. They LOVE getting to explore out there, and I can totally relate. I loved going with him when I was a kid, and they had a blast at the same exact spots...

Wednesday, January 4, 2012

3 months

Today Crew is 3 months old! Time is flying by...




We don't go to the pediatrician for a 3 month checkup, so weight/height stats will have to wait until next month. 
A few things he's up to lately:
- He's a pretty happy baby, which is a nice relief coming from my last experience (Hudson). He cries when it's time to eat or when he's ready for bed. He'll sometimes cry when he wants attention also, particularly if the boys are around. He loves to get attention from his big brothers!
- He smiles A LOT, and it never gets old. I like to think (since I have zero experience) that getting a smile from a baby is like getting a drug high. I love it. We're getting giggles too lately, which is also super fun
- He eats 4 times a day, goes to bed around 9pm and gets up between 7/8am. He's been sleeping on this schedule for several weeks now, which I'm loving. William and Hudson started sleeping through the night around 10 weeks (Crew was about 7 weeks), but they didn't start sleeping 11 hours until they were about 4 months old.
- He still wears size 1 diapers, but we're on our last pack...so, when these are out, we'll move on to size 2
- He can still wear most of his 0-3 month clothes, but the ones with "feet" are cramping his little toes. So, I think we'll start slowly transitioning to 3-6 (which makes me sad because I LOVE some of his little outfits!!)
- He is becoming a champ at sleeping in his carrier.  With school, activities, holidays, etc, he just doesn't always get the opportunity to nap in his bed. It seems like we're always on the go.  I have a feeling Crew is going to be our flexible child!

So far, the transition to #3 is continuing to be a breeze. I'm loving have 3 boys, even though I never thought I'd be able to say that. It's a good thing God knows more than I do about what I need!

Tuesday, January 3, 2012

Crew's Covenant Baptism

What a way to start 2012! 

While Dave's parents were here, we wanted to have Bill baptize Crew (since he's ordained). It was even more special because he also baptized William and Hudson. The only sad part of the day was that my parents weren't there to celebrate with us. Of course, they were there in spirit. Trent and Paige (and Paige's mom and 2 sisters) as well as Jeremy and Ami were there with us, so we had quite a "crew" at church on Sunday!

Our elder, Doug, asking us questions about our commitment in raising Crew:

Bill talking about the promises of generation to generation (which is why Dave's mom is up there. My parents would have been up there as well, if they'd been in town):

How great is it to see 3 generations of Dennison men here??

Hudson was very fascinated, and he actually got himself a few extra sprinkles. :-)