From one mom to another

Ok Girls. I am out of ideas, or just can't come up with any to begin with. I have been in a food rut for the last 3 months and am in need of suggestions. Can you food preparation specialists aka moms give me some healthy and fairly quick meal suggestions especially for breakfast and lunch? I don't cook much for either of these, but would be willing to (a little). Please any suggestions are great.

I also need suggestions for a baby that won't go to sleep all night. He is a great sleeper during the day; with only a few fussy times. But about 8:30 or so he gets wound up (crying) and we can't get him back to sleep until around 1:30 or 2:00 usually. Needless to say this is taking it's toll on Michael and I. We have tried several things; bathing, nursing, mylicon, swaddling, changing positions, tummy and back and side, Swing, bouncy, running water, we have even tried giving him a bottle(which he refuses to take any time) I keep him in the middle of the action all day, we start winding down, dimming the lights and all as we put the older brothers to bed around 8:00 and he is in our room at night. Anyway any suggestions are welcome. Do you think he has his days and night mixed up? and how do I solve that?

All rolled into one

Ok, I only have a short amount of time before Brennan wakes up, so I'm rushing this post and rolling several post into one. Sorry I don't have more time to write, but hey... at least your getting a few pics, right?

Brennan (5 1/2 wks) loves to take naps on this floor pad. Thanks Dad!

His cheeks are growing by the day! :) You know you want to smile! I think they look like they are having the best conversation:)
Yes I do realize it is 90 degrees outside, but while sorting through clothes today, William came across some feet pajamas(his favorite thing to wear) and wanted to put them on so badly! And of course whatever William has, Cade must have also. So here they are in the midst of a mess, happy as larks with their feet pajamas.
So cute!!! William loves his baby brothers!
I took this picture and as I was looking at it I saw the future. Here they are all sitting on the couch together watching Monday Night Football. What a great bonding time! I expect to be taking this same picture in years to come.

Just call me Granola Mama

A friend of mine loaned me this Maya Wrap (Thanks Shannon). And I wore it today on my first grocery shopping outing all alone with the brothers. It worked perfectly. Brennan slept the entire time, while the other two did their normal stuff. I did however get several strange looks/stare downs, whatever you want to call it. I'm not sure if it was because I had a baby straped to me or that I have 3 children under the age of 4. They probably looked at me and thought

1. This girl has her hands full
2. Hmm. I wonder if all those are her kids
3. She is wearing her baby.... what a granola mama
4. Don't they know about Birth control (and the answer is yes)

Butterfly Garden & the BIG Spider

A friend from Church has an enormous amount of butterflies at her house and invited us to come see them on Monday. Here are a few pics from the morning. Thank you so much Alice!

Isn't it beautiful!

William and Ashton hanging out
Taking a ride on the tractor
And the most interesting part of the day.... watching this enormous garden spider wrap this grasshopper in web. It happened so fast I couldn't believe it. So facinating.

Getting Bigger and Bigger

Brennan has grown so much. Every morning I pick him up and think, "Man! How much did you grow last night?" Here are some pics of him and all his skills, sleeping, and sleeping, and more sleeping.

Sitting Big with Daddy

Evening Naptime:)
Check out that belly, and the cheeks:)
Getting so Big.

Labor Day weekend

Michael's 29th birthday was August 30. Labor Day weekend... We were blessed to have all of his family here to celebrate and to meet our sweet Brennan. It was a beautiful weekend and we all had a great time. It was so fun to see the cousins playing together.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY!

The Big Boys Posing:) Cute Arn't they?
I was trying to get a picture of the brothers with there matching shirts, but Cade really wanted to keep his lemonade. I just thought this picture was priceless.
Ok, now he has his lemonade and is much happier, However you can't see there shirts anymore:) They say, "I'm the Big Brother", "I'm the Middle Brother", and "I'm the little brother"
And one last of Brenna. He was 3 weeks old in this picture:)

Evacuation Plan

Well with Ike going this way and that, we decided Wednesday afternoon that the boys and I should "Get out of Dodge" to avoid any evacuation traffic that may be coming the next day. Thankfully it was an unnessassary trip! Our evacuation plan is to head to Waco and stay with family until it is safe to come home. So we tested it out and it is a good plan:). We had a wonderful Hurricane Party with Granny and Papa, thank you guys so much for helping with the boys and for driving with me. However saying all that, I am so sad for all the hurricane victims; my thoughts and prayer go out to those who have lost so much in the storm and flooding. We have a few family members that no one has heard from and a lot of friends that we are waiting for updates from, so please be in prayer for them.