Pirate/Spiderman Music!

Gentry is still obsessed with pirates and now spiderman has joined the club.  We have been listening the Veggie Tales soundtrack from "The Pirates Who don't do Anything" and every time any of the songs come on Gentry gets this little growl/pirate face on through the whole song.  It is to say the least entertaining.  Then tonight I downloaded the spiderman theme song and he kept shooting webs and saying "I am Spiderman", here are some videos of the entertainment I get everyday from this little sweetie!  I love him so much!!!

My favorite Valentine's Day ever!

Jeff celebrated Valentine's Day a little early because today and tonight we had the house all to ourselves!  I know I can't believe it, it was amazingly a quiet and productive day!  Sweet G2 is down in NM with my mom, and Tandi and her 2 kiddos are in TX visiting family.  Jeff and I felt like newlyweds :)  

It was the greatest Day ever, it began by sleeping in, followed by breakfast in bed from my sweet husband!  Next we cleaned the whole house, and I finished all of the laundry, including all the blankets, sheets, and pillows!  It was so GREAT!  Then I took a nap of course!  Tonight Jeff insisted we go out for dinner instead of staying home, so we went out to this really cute Italian restaurant in Boulder.  

Dinner was so nice, we sat and talked literally for about 2 hours.  We shared some pasta and when they brought out our meal, I really liked the plate that it came out on, and thought it was a little odd because the extra plate they brought out for us didn't match the other, but that was the extent of my curiosity the rest of the night.  After we were all done our waiter came by numerous times to ask if he could take our plates, even though we were completely done, Jeff insisted that he not take our plates.  Our conversation went on, but I could tell Jeff was preoccupied and he started acting a little funny.  He just kept smiling and asking me odd questions like if I wanted more bread to use to dip up the rest of my sauce (I never do that, in fact it annoys me when Jeff does it!)  His behavior continued and I literally started to worry that he had arranged some sort of person to come serenade me, or maybe one of my 2 favorite George's was going to be at the restaurant (I really would love to meet both George Strait and George Bush) and he had set me up to meet them!  I kept looking around and getting nervous for what was about to happen, when I finally looked down and realized that the plate I had been sitting in front off, eaten off, and looked at 100 times, was a plate that he had made me! 

I absolutely loved it, but couldn't quit laughing because this poor sweet guy had been waiting all night for me to notice his Valentine!  I love him, and he has no choice but to appreciate the fact I am not the most observant person and tend to not notice details at all!  Sorry Jeff, but just know I loved it so much, even if it took me all night to notice!  

My favorite part is with this plate he has started a tradition and sweet memory maker with our family.  We are going to start making these plates on our date nights and each one will include a scripture on the front and a story about our family on the back that goes along with the verse!  What a sweet gesture he made, because I am sure he doesn't love making pottery by any means, but he knew I would love it because I love sentimental things, and I love making my own pottery!  Thanks so much babe for thinking of me and loving me the way you do!  

My little artist!

Lately Gentry has been showing a real interest in drawing, coloring, and writing.  It has been really fun to see his imagination grow from just playing with toys to writing on the chalk board.  Jeff is an artist so he has really enjoyed drawing with Gentry.  Here are some of his recent pictures.  In this picture Gentry told me I was the big head and he was the little head.  So sweet.  Even though it looks a little like Picas-so we figure since he is only 3 and a boy, he is doing pretty good!

Cowboy Day!

Gentry's school had a cowboy day last week.  All the kids got to dress up like cowboys and they had a real horse come visit!  The kids got to feed him carrots and pet him.  It was so precious and reminded me of when I was growing up.  Gentry wore my cowboy hat from when I was a little girl.  When he put on that hat, he looked nearly identical to me when I was his age!  It was a little scary!  One of my favorite parts of the whole experience was when he got home and took off his hat, he had hat hair!  I love hat hair, and I can vividly remember my dad and little brother coming in from working and their hat hair that came with it!!

Western Stock Show!

We took all the kiddos to the Western Stock Show!  The pictures explain everything!  We fed animals, sat on animals, looked at animals, and smelled like animals when we left!  Aaaaaahhh, the smells remind me of days on the ranch! Gentry's favorite animal was the llama, because one of his favorite books is Llama, llama, red pajama.  Christian held his nose almost all day, he was hilarious!  None of the other kids seemed to notice the smell but Christian couldn't get past the smell! 

A day with Mom!

Gentry and I spent the day together just he and I!  We had so much fun together!  Our day started off with Gentry setting up all of his men in a line and then all of his cars in the middle for the parade!  So cute and sweet to have him explain what he is thinking and playing!  

We also spent an hour and a half on the trampoline jumping!  I was exhausted but had so much fun wrestling and rubbing our hair on the trampoline to make it full of static.  I am absolutely loving life with him right now, we have so much fun together.  Most days I feel like I can't get enough of him and have been putting him in bed with us when we go to bed.  He is still asleep and I only let him snuggle for a little bit and then he goes back to his bed cause I really like sleep!  I just love being a mom right now!

Gentry's Hair

Gentry has been more interested in his hair and how it looks.  A couple of days ago he really wanted a mohawk and this is as good as I could do!  He loved it and we even went to Target looking like this!  I was a little embarrassed but he loved it so oh well!

Favorite Conversation of the Day...

I have been in bed all day long sick from a stomach bug I bragged about not getting!  Gentry had it at the beginning of the week and so I was so excited when none of us got it, that was until it showed up today in me!  I came out of the bedroom at about 5, I am sure looking wonderful (said as sarcastically as possible) when my sweet baby brother came over to check on me.

Nate:  "Ash, while you have been sick, I have been praying for you all day.  Let me pray for you.  Dear God please help Ash's tummy to feel better so she can come out of her room with us.  In Jesus name, Amen"

He then proceeded to literally pat me on the head and then ran off to jump on the trampoline.  I can't explain how much I love my sweet little brother.  We have a special bond that not too many siblings share, and I am so thankful for his life and all that he brings to mine! 

Pizza Friday!

A weekly tradition at our house has become our Pizza Fridays!  We usually watch a movie after pizza, but recently have been trying to get a little creative to make our fun days a little cheaper, so tonight that was what we did.  Tonight we had our pizza (and no it's not delivery... it's Digiorno :) )  and then had a little bit of a dance party in the kitchen (note that there will be no pictures of that, being that Jeff and I were both apart of the circus, but a great video of Gentry and Nate doing the robot should follow in a couple of days!).  The music started with Veggie Tales, but let's be honest they don't quite carry that the beat that makes you really want to bob your head... so we moved on to bigger and better!  This included some songs from my running playlist, don't worry I skipped over Rihanna, Pink, JT, Sean Paul, and a couple of others, but we did listen to Will Smith and Jordin Sparks.  Let me just say you have never been to dance party like this one, it was rockin!

After  dancing Jeff and I built a big tent in the living room and had all the kids get their blankets and pillows.  I can't lie, building the tent was so fun, I think I might have been a little more excited than the kids were because some of my favorite childhood memories are when my dad would have us kids on his own and our night would consist of a huge sock war (something that might begin in the Swanson household soon!), and a huge tent for all us kiddos to fall asleep in!  PRICELESS!!!  Anyways the kids loved it, and they all sat in the tent and watched... (I thought about lying here since I know my mom will read this and most likely not approve, but what can she do 10 hours away?  Love you mom :) !)  NACHO LIBRE!!!  We already had the movie and didn't want to go rent another. All the movies we own are Christmas movies and if we have to watch the Grinch Stole Christmas again, I will loss it, and Gentry will cry because Christmas got stolen, something I am not willing to do on this find Friday night!

At first you might think, wow that is not a kid movie, but let me defend my case.  There are no sex scenes and no bad language. It is about a man who loves God and loves to wrestle, which basically is the story of Jeff as a young man, who is an amazing man of God now,  so I figured it couldn't be that bad!  Seriously the kids loved it even Olyvia! The agenda tomorrow includes, nothing less than wrestling and homemade Luchador Masks for everyone!!!  It was classic and so fun!

These are some pics from the kids tonight.  The first is of the kids making a sad face that we were done with our dance party, all except for Gent, I have no idea what he is doing, just being a boy I guess :).  The rest are all of the kids in the tent.  Notice that I did not include any pics of the actual tent itself, this is because I have yet to uncover the secret techniques of the tent Master (my dad), and basically it was all but pathetic!

 

A Tribute to Jeff's New Lifestyle!!

Most times my blog is dedicated to the kids and all that goes into our crazy days, but tonight I thought I should mention how amazing my husband is!!! Jeff has been so supportive and loving to all the craziness in our lives! Since my sister has moved in with her two little ones, personal space in the house is basically non-existent. Our little 3-bedroom is nothing short of busting at the seams and as you can imagine 2 sisters and 3-4 kids (depending on if Nate is visiting) leaves Jeff with little room to breath, much less anything he would actually want to do!

There are so many things that Jeff could be frustrated with, annoyed with, and protest, yet he does none of these. He seriously begins and ends everyday with a smile. I am also amazed at how unselfishly he loves each of the kids. I think it can be more natural for a woman, especially with your sister to love each others kids and treat them all the same, but I am daily in awe of how loving and fair Jeff is with all the kids, he truly loves each of them like they have always been apart of our immediate family!! It is really special to see how he adores each of them and gives each of them what they need! Occasionally Jeff will take the kids out individually, for an hour at a time for some one on one time with him. They all love the time with him, and seriously every single one of them cries when they have to come home from being with him.

What is more amazing is that Jeff loves and gives so much in a time that has been really hard for him. In November his company had to lay off 25% of the employees, which unfortunatley included Jeff. (You can pray for a job to come about soon! :)) He has been on the search for a job, and even though there have been some days harder than others, his joy has never left, and is apparent by the smile on his face and expression of love he shows everyday to four sweet kids who truly cherish him!

The following pictures of Jeff asleep only to attacked by all four kiddos, Jeff sitting in the Expedition working so he can have a little peace (I need to mention that he never complains about sitting in the Expedition for quiet, if I didn't mention it before, let me say it now...HE IS WONDERFUL!), and Jeff with a reindeer hat, matching Nate and Gentry (they loved that he wore the hat with them).

All that to say I love Jeff so much and really appreciate the sacrifices that he has made for our family. I have an amazing husband and could not ask for more. I am so blessed to have him, I am still the luckiest girl in the world!!! I love you Jeff, more than you will ever know!! :)