Construction Zones (of different kinds!)

All summer long (and now into the fall) we have been remodeling many aspects of our main floor. We took out the stinky dog-pee carpet and FINALLY tore out the nasty, poorly-installed slate tile in the kitchen. A backsplash was installed and now we're in the process of repainting.

Our home wasn't the only place

of construction going on, however.

I've also been busy

constructing something special of my own!

Most of you know that in May we had the shock of our lives

when we found out our family must have been

missing one because Heavenly Father

has sent Baby #4 our way!

The kids were also pretty surprised...

We broke the news to them at Babies R' Us.

They went there with us under the impression that we had to buy a baby gift for Brett's cousin who had just had the most adorable baby boy. Then we told them we weren't there to pick out stuff for someone else's baby - we were there to find fun things for our own!

Here's what they chose:

Here's our sweetheart in the 1st trimester - teeny tiny plum-size:

Last month we got to find out whether we were getting a brother or a sister. To be safe, I bought Yankee gear for either sex. Then we found out Halle will finally be able to let go of the claim that she is the "only" girl in her family - hurray!

Here she is, holding her hand up to her face

Kids and grandmas, waiting to hear the word on the gender

A sister?!

21 weeks

getting "on track" with my birthday...

Last week while Brett was out of town, the kids and I celebrated my birthday by hopping onto Frontrunner and seeing "Rio" at the Gateway - suuuuuuuper fun!

When I look in the mirror, I almost see THIS reflection staring back at me:

or at least that's what my kids apparently see when they look at me. There are outings with the children where I feel nothing more than a glorified pack mule.

"Here, Mom, hold my jacket."

"Here, Mom, hold my drink."

"Here, Mom, take my trash."

"Here, Mom, hold my [chewed] gum."

Sometimes I wonder if the only way I'll be able to get their attention is if I kick up my hind legs and bray.

dog pile!

These silly, spontaneous moments are what I hope

my children remember when they're all grown up...

how the west was won

i love that my kids have such far-reaching imaginations

and that they play so well together

pockets & popsicle sticks: the solution to all my parenting woes???

This was yesterday's project: Behavior Pockets.

I made it in an attempt to curb the yelling, sassing, whining, and negativity that has been present in our home a little too much lately. Anytime the kids are demonstrating poor behavior, their stick gets moved to a pocket to the right. If they get to a red pocket, they begin to lose privileges. If the kids can go two weeks without getting two reds, we do a family activity, such as getting ice cream or going for a family bike ride, etc.

So far it seems to be working. If nothing else it gives me something to fall back on rather than resorting to red-faced high volume or threats of eminent death. ;)

And a big shout out to my pal, Margaret, for letting me borrow HER idea in the first place and helping me with the details!

eating my words. and my carrots, too.

I used to be very vocal about the fact that purchasing food products that were "individually packaged" or labeled with cartoon-characters was a waste of money.Then I got real.
It's simple math:

Over-Priced, Individually Packaged food products, colorfully labeled with cartoon characters my children are familiar with and think they just have to have = my kids eating their vegetables.

So totally worth it. So totally buying into it.
Hey, whatever it takes, right?

Ready or not, here I come!

The picture quality isn't great, as our camera is broken (turns out if you drop it on top of the lens, it's basically a gone-r) and this photo was snapped with Brett's cell, but I couldn't resist sharing... This reaction from the kids came when Brett found them during an intense game of Hide-And-Seek (a Taft family favorite past time just before bed).

our amateur photo shoot for Christmas cards...

The kids had these bold, colorful fall sweaters that I just loved...and I wanted them for our Christmas card photo shoot. It's so difficult to get a shot with 3 children each looking good (smiling, hands and feet where you want 'em, etc)...I think we shot about 85 pictures. Here are some of the good and the not-so-good...but even if they weren't great, you can tell we were having a great time! If it weren't for Brett's parents and Aunt Heidi helping, I don't think we would have gotten a usable one. And thanks to Kami, my sweet friend, for her skills, the perfect one came together!





Brett and I had not intended on being in the picture, but when it was realized we were all wearing red, we were "forced" (I made Brett change into one of his dad's red shirts, though...I was not sending out a card with a Diamond backs t-shirt on it. In the end it didn't matter...the winning photo ended up being only the kids.)

Do we really have to hug our sister?

This is so Wyatt. Even when he was a baby, it was hard to get a good picture of him when he was laughing or smiling big...he always got too excited and would wave his arms around!