Happy Birthday Cannon

A whole year . . . where has the time gone. We celebrated by eating cake - well, we let Cannon destroy his cake. We made him a cool dinosaur cake and a mini cake for destruction!! It was hard to buy a gift for the 5th boy - what could he possibly need! He was lucky enough to get a package of diapers, an outfit and a toy! Our neighbors brought him over a bath toy (his older brothers had a lot of fun with it - maybe tonight he'll get his turn to play with it!) Cannon's probably destined to always be on the losing end of presents!! Maybe he'll have an interest in something we don't have . . .

New York Skyline

This is my favorite picture of all the pictures that I took this last week (the lighthouse is a close second). This one is actually three pictures combined to make the New York skyline. I changed the photos background color and grain and came up with this . . .

New England Cruise

Our New England cruise was fantastic - well there was the rain in Saint John . . . that was interesting. We took a photography tour - ideas to make our photos turn out spectacular. I learned quite a bit - but mostly, I learned how to take pictures in the rain with a camera that can't get wet. Basically, I got really wet while keeping my camera dry. On the cruise we did a lot of eating, sleeping, wandering around and mostly just hanging out together.

We stopped at Boston, Portland, Saint Johns and Halifax. We even brought the kids candy from Canada. If you don't know about Smarties - you're missing out. They're like M&M's, sort of. The cruise was a nice de-stresser, although about day 4 I really started missing my kids. It was wierd to be gone for so long . . . now that I'm home and the laundry has started, maybe it would be nice to be back on the ship where everything is done for you - they even turn down your bed at night and leave you a little chocolate. It really can't get any better - Gunnar even asked about his favorite part - 24 hour ice cream. We might have seen the ice cream a few too many times. Ahhh - it was great! Now back to the real world! Here are a few of my favorite pictures:

New York

Today was an eventful day! We walked, saw sights, walked some more, saw more things - realized we were only a street or two away from the other things that we wanted to see - but had no idea . . . learned that New York was the first capitol of the United States. Saw the place where George Washington was inaugurated. Saw the Hello Deli from David Letterman, lots of tall buildings, several beautiful churches, the LDS temple, ground zero, the Statue of Liberty, we also saw part of central park, the naked cowboy (not really naked) in Times Square, the Dakota (the place where John Lennon lived and was shot), the flat iron building, rode the Staton Island Ferry, took my picture with SpongeBob Square Pants, went to the M&M and Hershey's Store, walked down Wall Street, saw the New York Stock Exchange, went to the top of Rockefeller Center . . . WOW! It was great - probably too much to fit into one day, but we tried. I think we could stay for a week and still not see everything - but today was worth it. New York is an amazing city. So here's a picture summary of our day . . .

Haircuts and Football

Cannon had his first haircut. It was tramatic for him and me. I am sad to see the curls go. When he falls asleep in my arms and his head gets all sweaty, his hair curls, it is so dang adorable. Too bad, those curls are gone. We had a bout with head lice (not exactly my highlight as a mother!). Because I thought that there might be a possibility that Cannon had them, we shaved him. Jerrick had already had a haircut, but then decided to take the hand trimmer and trim up the top of his head. So he had this nice bald spot. It's all fun and games until mom wants to 'fix' your haircut!! At least it helped to tell him that he was twins with Cannon.


Football season has started. Jaxon, Gunnar and Jerrick are playing football this year. Jaxon is in a league where they wear full pads and tackle. Gunnar and Jerrick are playing flag football. Everyone is having a great time - especially Jaxon. He loves it when he plays defense so he can tackle people. He had been playing offense lately and he is a little bummed - he says that he just can't tackle people the same way! Gunnar and Jerrick like the first part of football. By the third quarter, they are ready to be done. I'm trying to bribe them by telling them every flag they pull, I'll pay them a dollar. So far, I've only paid out $2 - but I know when they figure this out, I could be poor. We've been spending about 3 hours on Saturdays watching games. So far, Jaxon's team has won both games. Gunnar and Jerrick's team only plays against one other team and they have lost every game. The other team is stacked with some pretty good (and fast) players. We keep telling them that everyone is a winner - but Gunnar is too smart - he keeps track of the touchdowns.

Since we have cool football pads and helmets, everyone has to try it on . . . (no wonder they all have been exposed to lice). Our washer and dryer have been on overload!! Everyone had a great time with Cannon in Jaxon's pads. Mostly they just laughed at him when he couldn't move. The fun things you can do with a younger brother!!

End of Summer Fun

Summer seemed to fly by - school has started now and looking back, we were busy, but it wasn't anything tremendously big! We went to Lagoon a few times. This last time, I took the camera and we took some cute pictures. The kids loved riding the rides. The older kids loved the ride Wicked and convinced me to try it out. It took me a few hours to feel normal again - but now I can say, "I RODE WICKED!! Monica asked me when we were done if I was going to text all my friends and let them know I rode Wicked. I'm not sure, as an adult, many of my friends would care - but just in case - I want to let anyone who really wants to know - I rode Wicked and survived. Once was good enough!!

Here are a few pictures that we took! The kids are amusement park junkies - we could have stayed days . . .

Toilet Water

Cannon loves to splash in any water. When we bath him in the kitchen sink, we need an extra towel just to wipe up the counter and the floor. But, the latest discovery has been toilet water. When you find him in his latest play area and take him out - he gets so mad. It's such a cute mad too, he carries on for quite a while letting you know that he was having fun. We're trying to make sure that everyone puts the lid down (and flushes), but with four toilets and four potty-trained boys, there is always fun to be had!!

So, we gave him an approved water playground! We filled the bowl with water and let him at it! It was a great idea (thanks Grandma Cressall)!! He had a great time! Gunnar had quite a good time playing with him too! At least we know this is clean water!!