FLORIDA/DISNEY!!!! Lots of Pictures!!

These are just some of my favorite pictures from our trip! I have a ton more from my camera but I've already moved them all onto my hard drive so I just took these from my phone.
Dan's parents live in Florida so I'm always checking for cheap flights. I found a super great deal for the end of october to early november. I was so excited to take the kids to disney while everything was decked out for Halloween, and then Christmas!! We've taken them before, but they were so little they won't remember. Damon claims he does remember meeting Mickey, which he remembers things that makes me wonder if he really does remember! haha Anyways, we couldn't pass up the deal on the flights, and we figured since we were going, we had to go to disney and then Dan and I went to Universal Studios for a day.
So we flew out on a thursday, it was a red eye, but it was non stop. This was good because flying that far usually means at least one lay over and it can take a whole travel day. It was also nice because the boys slept a good portion of the flight. But it made Dan and I soooooo tired the next day. So that was kind of brutal for us, but luckily my in laws are amazing and let us sleep and catch some naps over the next few days while we were at their house. They live about 2 hours outside Orlando. So once our flight landed we got ALL our crap and our rental car and headed to their house. It was a long night and a long morning, but it was so great once we were there.
We had a day at the beach, which the boys loved! I could sit at the beach all day and comb the sand and just listen to the waves. Jag took a nap on me which was so sweet not to have to chase him around, and just relax. The boys loved building sand castles and dumping water on our feet.
The next few days we just hung out and enjoyed spending time with family. Dan's sister, Brynne and her family came to visit us and spend halloween together! We had fun at the trunk or treat at the church. The boys couldn't wait to get in their Star Wars Costumes. We went swimming, carved pumpkins, took naps, had some beach time, played games, and just visited and enjoyed eachother's company!
On Monday we headed to Orlando to begin the Disney part of the trip. My sweet parents booked us a few days in their time share in Reunion, FL which was just about 10-15 minutes from Disney. It was AMAZING! The resort had it's own water park so we spent one of the mornings there. It was the perfect place to crash every night after we were worn out from the parks.
We went to Hollywood Studios the first day where we did EVERYTHING Star Wars. The boys were in heaven! We had SO much fun! It was a great way to start our trip. We rode all the fun rides and got to see a cool show with all the main star wars characters. One of my favorite parts of the day was when we stopped and watched the "jedi's in training" where kids get to go up on stage and get robes and lightsabers and they go through "training" so that they can defeat darth vadar. So we stopped to watch and I asked the boys if they wanted to do it and they said yes and were so excited.....then Darth Vadar came out and they suddenly weren't so eager. Hahaha they really thought it was the real darth vadar and were too scared. Rafe was pretty scared for all the kids that were up on the stage, but I reassured him that they'd be ok......but I mean have you seen the star wars where annikan kills all the young jedi?!  Oh yeah, and Dan and I were parents of the year and made Damon go on Tower of Terror with us, which was hilarious! He had a solid face expression the whole time. He was so scared but you never would have known it! On the other hand, I peed my pants. That ride scares the heck out of me! haha damon handled it way better than I did! But he made sure to tell us a few times that he didn't ever want to ride it again. hahaha
The second day we started off the morning at Animal Kingdom. I LOVE animal kingdom. I love all the trees and how jungly everything is. We rode the safari ride first which is always awesome because almost all the animals are out. Lucky for us, Dan's sister Brynne used to work at Disney so she knows all the good tricks! We got a bunch of fast passes for the yetti ride, so Dan and I rode it 3 times back to back. It was amazing. We went to it's tough to be a bug and the Lion King. Those are always fun. We spent a lot of time just walking around and looking at everything. Then around lunch time we left and got some food, then headed to Epcot for the rest of the day. My favorite was fast track. I haven't ridden that ride before and the boys were in heaven building their own car and "racing" it. I also love Soarin, which is now soarin around the world, which was so cool! Last time I rode it, it was just in california. The boys were a little freaked out on it, but I think they enjoyed it. We also went on the finding Nemo ride, the space ride that's inside the big globe....I can't remember the name. And dan and I did the zero gravity ride. It was a fun day! Epcot at night is so pretty!
The third day was all spent at Magic Kingdom. We rode EVERYTHING. It was so great because the wait times were really low because of the time of year we went. I super loved the new 7 dwarfs ride, the car track was fun with the boys, we also love splash mountain and space mountain.  We rode dumbo, and the spacerocket ride, it's a small world, winnie the pooh, the carrousel, and peter Pan. I'm sure there were a few others, but those were the best. We stuck around for the fireworks, which was magical! I love Magic Kingdom at night when the castle is all lit up. It was so cool! Packed with people, but cool and I hope the boys will always remember it!
The last day Dan and I went to Universal Studios. We pretty much walked on every ride! I made him ride the hulk ride with me back to back. It's my favorite! We got drenched on jurrasic park, which we also rode twice. The first time we didn't get too wet, but the second time we were drenched! We spent most of our day in harry Potter world. We honestly didn't touch the second park except for Harry Potter world. We rode both the dragon rides, after we ate lunch at three broomsticks, which was a bad plan! hahaha we felt so sick after that.....so we got another butter beer. Seriously so good. We did the ride at the castle, which I love! Last time we went, we did the single rider line which is much shorter but you don't get to see hardly any of the castle. So this time we got to see more of the castle which was so cool! Then we rode the hogwarts express to the other park and walked around for a bit. It's amazing to see all the shops and how much everything looks like it's straight out of the movie. We rode the new gringots ride twice then the park was closing so we headed out! We loved the gringots ride! Probably my new favorite! I don't mind missing that side of the park though. It's a lot of like the simpsons and transformers, and mummy. I like more rollercoaster rides than the 3D rides. I was bummed we missed the rockin rollercoaster ride, but i've been there done that so it was worth it to spend it on the gringots ride instead.
We could not have done any of this without Dan's parents. They were such troopers. They were so sweet to wheel Jag around in his stroller while we took the boys on rides. And to babysit them for the last whole day so we could go to Universal was so sweet of them. They probably needed a vacation from our vacation hahah! But I know our boys had so much fun spending time with their grandparents and they are always asking when we are going to go back to florida.
The next day we did a little swimming then checked out of our hotel and headed back home! It was a long week that was jam packed of family and fun. Dan and I both talk about how glad we are that we spent our money on that trip. It could have gone a million places, but we'll never regret spending it to see our family and create memories with our kids.  I'm sure they'll remember it forever! If they start to forget I have about 3 hours of video and 2 thousand pictures for them to refresh their memory! ;)

Damon's First Day of 1st Grade!

Last night we packed his lunch, picked out his outfit, had a little pep talk, and were in bed by 8:00. Damon was so excited for school, which as a mom always makes it easier. We woke up at 7:30 this morning and he pulled me in close for tight hug and said, "I'm gonna miss you!" It was the sweetest thing because Damon isn't real affectionate and doesn't really say that kind of stuff anymore. So the fact that he said that without any prompting, or me saying it first made me feel so happy. I told him I was going to miss him too but that he was going to have the best day!

We got dressed and ate breakfast. We took a few pictures then Dan walked him to school. Once they got to the gate he gave Dan a hug and took off.

Our day at home was much more quiet than usual. We sure missed having him around. He's my big helper so I missed that for sure. Rafe was having a hard time and just wanted lots of cuddles and attention. So that was nice. Before we knew it, it was time to go and pick up Damon.

He told us he had the best day ever! That he loves school and made lots of new friends. He got 2 recesses! He learned how to dribble a basketball and climb the monkey bars. He had a good time. I was so glad! This elementary has kindergarten through 6th grade so I was worried he would get overwhelmed, but he's a pretty go with the flow kid so it was great!

It's weird to think he'll be going back tomorrow! I think as the days go on I'll miss him more and more. I've been excited for school to start, I won't lie. He can be super needy and has to have all my attention all day every day. And that gets exhausting. He loves for me to entertain him, which I love playing games with them and spending time with them, but he can sure put me on a guilt trip if I don't give him attention all the time. So I've been like, yes! School! He has just been content to hang out since he got home. I can tell he's a little tired and just wants to relax and I'm totally fine with that!

Rafe starts pre-school in about a week and I think that will help him feel like he has his own new friends and stuff to do and he's not just hanging out with mom all day every day!

Damon turns 6!

Damon had his birthday on May 6th. I can't believe he's 6 years old already. Sometimes when I'm cuddling with Jag, I feel like I'm going back in time and snuggling Damon. It's the craziest feeling. 

Damon has grown so much this year. He LOVES school and has done so well in Kindergarten. I think it's made him feel like a big kid since he goes to school and rides the bus and has homework. He's definitely matured and he catches me off guard all the time. He takes on some responsibilities I didn't think about giving him for a few years. Like he takes out the garbages, then takes the bins to the road and brings them in when he gets home from school. He asked to do it one day and just kept at it. Lately he's been trying really hard to help with chores and get himself ready for school. The boy loves to be independent. I love it. He's such a great kid. 

6 things I LOVE about Damon

1. He always eats what I make for dinner and loves my cooking.

2. He is such a good and protective older brother. 

3. He is nice to everyone.

4. He is a little genius and tries so hard at school. I hope he never stops loving to learn!

5. He is my right hand. I very rarely have to ask him twice to do something. He's always quick to help me out.

6. He is becoming quite the little artist! He loves to draw and paint. He surprises me with some of the stuff he can draw! 

I couldn't have asked for a sweeter, kinder boy to set the example for his brothers. He is one of a kind! 

Happy birthday Damon! We love you!!

Summer catch up part 2

I love dressing my boys for church. All the moving around we have been doing really makes it hard to settle into a ward. So the boys are loving their church classes and all their new friends. But it seems like every week when I go to get them dressed they have outgrown their clothes! I still have tags on some so I'm gonna have to go exchange them! They need new shoes and pants and another church shirt. And Jag is just as bad! I'll pull something out for him and he has to squeeze into it just so he can wear it once to justify me keeping ALL my boys clothes. Dan hates that we've been toting them around all these years. It's saved us tons of money re using them but we have had them all in different seasons so it's been hard matching them up. But I love putting Jag in things both his other brothers have worn. 

Damon and Rafe spend all day every day together. They are best buddies and I know Rafe is going to have a hard time when Damon goes back to school in a few weeks. I feel like they are so bored with me all day every day. I try to do at least one fun thing with them every day. Playing a game or playdoe or the park or whatever else they really want to do. Damon is my child of "what's next. What else" and nothing is ever good enough. He always wants more. Rafe is more go with the flow but can still be needy. Damon loves to be right where I am and doing whatever I'm doing. So I feelu Kurt sometimes because I constantly feel like I am pushing Damon off. Telling him to go outside or downstairs. He can't entertain himself and it's exhausting feeling like I always have to do it. Especially while trying to keep up with the baby and house and laundry and all that. Soooo I'm kinda excited for school to start. He had too much energy and I know school will zap that haha.

I have been feeling a little burned out and run down the last little bit so my sweet hubs scheduled a couples massage. It's been years since we've done that. It was SO nice, just 2 hours short haha:) but I seriously appreciate this man and how hard he works for us. He recently got a promotion at work and he never wants me to give him a shout out and let the world know how awesome he is, He gets embarrassed but he has been working so hard. And lots of nights I don't even see him until 7/7:30. But he just accepted a job as the CEO at Netmark and I am so dang proud of him. 

This little baby is 9 months old. He just got his fourth tooth and is a crawling machine. He loves to pull himself up on everything, loves real food, is growing out of his dairy allergy, and is starting to sleep well, finally! He had a bad regression so he's only slept through the night a handful of times. But he's getting better!! The separation anxiety has been REAL though. My goodness this kid is sooooo sweet but is wearing me down. He's a full time job by himself. 

Damon lost his 3 tooth yesterday. He gets pretty nervous about this stuff and hated when I try to wiggle his loose teeth so I was nervous for this moment. But he just came to Dan and was like "Dad my tooth is loose will you pull it?" We were shocked. He pulled his other two himself, so we were surprised he asked for someone else to do it. He was so brave. 

It's crazy sometimes that these three are mine. When I see them out playing or just out in public it's weird to stop and think that they are mine, I'm their mom and responsible for them. I still feel like they should be babies. But seeing them grow up and learn new things and become independent is nice! 

Summer catch up! Part 1

Oh my goodness. I just looked at my last post 🙄😁 I can't believe it's been that long since I've blogged. A lot has been going on this summer. 

Damon finished kindergarten! He was so sad that he wouldn't be able to go to school all summer. At his end of the year program he announced that he would like to be a semi driver when he grows up. He also received the kindest cowboy award which made me one proud momma! He really is such a kind hearted little boy. His principal said something that I loved when she handed out the awards, she said, it's good to be smart but it's even better to be kind. Dan and I talked about how true that was. Kindness is an underrated quality these days. People are so cold and harsh. It makes me feel so good when I see someone being kind. So my mommy heart was over flowing when they gave him that award. 

We bought a house here in Idaho falls! When we moved here we found a subdivision we really loved but they didn't have any rentals in here so we told ourselves when we were ready to buy that we should look here first. We looked into building but after having Jag I just have been  struggling to keep up with these crazy boys and the thought of building a house on top of that sounded like a nightmare. So we found a speck home that we loved that they had just finished in the neighborhood and bought that. We are so glad to be in our own home again. It's been 3 years since we've owned a home and when you go from owning to renting it's not fun! I hated moving every year! So we are loving making this place our own and making it all cozy for our family. 

Those are the only pics I have on my phone but we love this house. We still need to put in our yard but will probably do that next summer. There's 6 bedrooms so we have been hosting lots and had lots of visitors which we love. It's a little overwhelming but we love having friends and family here. 

Dans family came to visit. His mom and dad, Beth and David, and Joe and Thea and Maya. We liked catching up with everyone and having our house full of people we love! We went to the splash pad, and the park, and just enjoyed playing games and watching movies and each others company. 

Papa tom and Rafe going to get sno cones at Damon's t ball game. 

Playing at the park with Grammy Val and Papa Tom

The cousins eating lunch together!

I didn't take many pictures, but we had a fun time together. 

Damon played T ball this summer. It was fun to watch him play but it was also hot and difficult to keep the other two occupied for an hour. But Damon has a good little throw and really had the batting down at the last few games. 

We spent the Fourth of July in Melba. I love being home for the fourth. It's usually when my Heiner family has our family reunion and it's great to see all my cousins and all the new babies and catch up with everyone. There's so many of us it's hard to talk to everyone, especially when you're chasing kids. But we had a fun time! The boys loved the fireworks and the parade! Papa also bought some four wheelers and the boys couldn't get enough of those! 

Grandma took us to see the secret life of pets. The boys loved it and the baby slept the whole time. It was perfect!!

The boys also had a blast swimming in grandmas pool. She sent it home with me and I still haven't blown it up so they can enjoy it again! Haha I can't find my pump anywhere!

This summer is flying by! The weather is starting to cool down already it seems like. Damon starts first grade in a few weeks and Rafe is going to preschool 3 days a week. I don't know what I'm going to do with myself haha. It will be so nice. But I will miss them. Especially Damon being gone all day every day! 

Jag

So I just realized that I haven't shared Jag's birth story. It's over on my Mom blog if you want to read it.
www.mommybrigade.blogspot.com
I think I'll do a post about the recovery and all that a little later. I always like going back and re reading those. It's crazy how much you forget. I know I've already forgot so much in the last 5 months.
5 MONTHS!
Where is the time going? My baby is already getting so big! He's rolling around and jumping all day in his jumper. I just gave him bananas for the first time last night. He devoured them! He loved them and just kept going and going! I couldn't believe it. He reminds me so much of Damon. He has so many similar mannerisms and just little things that take me back almost 6 years ago when I had Damon (That's a whole post in itself ;( Why is Damon getting so old!). Jag is so sweet. He has a little milk allergy so Momma is trying her hardest to stay away from pizza, ice cream, and milk related and it's been a little hard. But I have been surprisingly good about it. In the beginning I would eat something thinking I was safe, then he would be miserable, and so I try to be really good so he's not in any pain. It breaks my heart and makes me feel so bad when he's sick because of something I ate.
He started rolling about 4 1/2 months. I was starting to panic a little thinking oh crap, he's never going to learn how to crawl or move unless I put him down! So I tried to be good about him getting tummy time and before I knew it he was rolling. Which is bitter sweet. I really love re living all these moments and hitting these milestones. But then when I look at how big my other boys are, it makes  me sad to think how fast it all goes! So I am soaking it all in and loving every stage.
He's sleeping so much better the last few weeks. He wakes up and i'll give him his binky and he usually goes right back to sleep. Some nights he only wakes up once. If I'm feeling a little too full, i'll nurse him in the middle of the night. But I really love it when he just sleeps and sleeps! It is amazing how much better I feel with uninterrupted sleep! haha imagine that! He really was the worst sleeper for the first.....maybe 3 months. He would stay up until about 2  then be up every 2 hours after that. It's slowly gotten better and I'm so glad!
3 kids has been kicking my butt! Seriously it's been so hard..... if we're going to talk about this, let's just dive right in.
I don't think I've ever really had Postpartum depression. But I definitely have cases of extreme mommy guilt. I never feel like I am doing enough. Or days when I'm on top of things with the house, I feel like i'm neglecting the kids. The kids only seem happy if I take them wherever they want, or give them whatever they want. it's never enough. Everrrrrrrrrr. and somedays I'm so overwhelmed and just feel like i'm such a crappy mom. Dan's great at talking me through it and reassuring me the kids are fine and I'm not royally screwing them up. hahaha but seriously I have no idea how to be a parent, and what I think is good parenting most of the time comes back and blows up in my face.
Like that time I told Rafe that whenever he was mean to Damon, Damon got to do it back to him.
So if Rafe punches Damon in the face, Damon gets to punch him in the face back. (extreme example that's actually never happened but you get the idea)..........
yeah
horrible idea.
don't do that.
Rafe was just becoming such a bully but now all I hear is I get to do it to you now!!!
stupid.
The boys for the most part play great together and are just little buddies. But when they are mad at each other it gets crazy fast.
I'm dreading when they are older and their fights get really crazy. My brothers were seriously insane and if my boys act like my brothers did.....they might find themselves at some type of a boot camp.
Anyways, back to Jag.
I'm not really the mom with the set schedule or strict routines. When he's tired, he sleeps. When he's hungry he eats. it's the best thing for our lifestyle. I know most people swear by having a schedule. But whenever I try, it just never turns out as well as I'd like. And he's so happy that I don't think I really need to restrict anything with him. He's a pretty happy baby and is just content to hang out and let his brothers maul him. He's been sick a little bit. Just a cold with a nasty cough which I HATE! But it's finally clearing up. Hopefully for good. I hate worrying about his little tiny body and those dang coughs. I swear EVERY time we go to church we come home sick. Then we all get it and are out for like 2 weeks while it just takes turns going through each of us. We have been so sick this winter. I swear our house is cursed. Whenever someone comes to visit, they leave sick.
But spring is finally here....hopefully! The weather has been so nice and I am loving letting the boys out to play! However all the neighbor kids that have been over are driving me a little batty. that's for another post.