We hosted a family home evening with Kara's parents and her two sisters and their families in attendance. We assigned everyone parts and acted out the nativity story, with Grandpa as the narrator. Stuart was a very cute sheep.

Simon was a shepherd who could have used some lessons on gentle sheep-herding. Dwayne was a donkey who was tagging along with the shepherd and sheep (to help them remember their lines).

Daniel wasn't thrilled to be laying in a manger, so decided to stand up.

Simon convinced me to buy some mini bananas at the store, just for Daniel. They did turn out to be just his size and it was mighty cute to watch him eat them!

The boys were great helpers decorating the tree.

This doesn't look like much snow, but it's the first time either of the boys remember seeing it, so they were very excited to get outside and play. Fortunately it was very wet and sticky, so making a snowman wasn't too much of a chore. He actually stayed there for a week or two before it finally warmed up enough to melt him.

Dwayne's dad visited us in Novemeber. One morning (after hearing me complain about Daniel's nighttime wake-ups) he snuck in and got a crying Daniel out of bed and took him downstairs so I could sleep. Daniel was hungry, but not wanting to wake me up, and not finding any food for him, he fed him some "Trix" that he had brought for the older boys. You can't see it well enough in the picture, but by the time I woke up, Daniel's white pajamas were multi-colored from Trix-drool.

Ed loves to make hopscotch and they boys love to help!


Ed made an awesome "Airplane Book," for the boys. It's complete with all-color images, a table of contents, and personalized pages with pictures of the boys' favorite planes and relatives associated with flying. Simon especially loves it!

One of the main things that excites me about finally owning a home is that I can invest time in a garden, which can hopefully get better each year. I enjoyed growing things in all of the places we've lived (community garden in Salt Lake, small garden plot behind our house in Colorado Springs, lots of containers in our concrete yard in California), but always knew I'd be leaving in a season or two.

Shortly after we moved here, I enrolled in a 14-week gardening course offered through the county extension office. I basically learned that I don't know much yet, but it gave me a good basis to learn from each year as I work in our yard on the landscaping as well as the vegetable garden. I'm also very excited about composting and started a pile in the back of our yard as soon as we moved in. By the time we put these beds in in November, we had some nice rich compost to add to the tops of them. We measured off each bed, put down several sheets of newspaper, covering the whole area, then layered on mulched leaves, grass clippings, compost, soil, etc. The goal is that by Spring, it will be broken down enough to till into the smothered turf below, after which we will build raised beds around each spot and bring in some more soil. I've made some good gardening friends at church and have my mom nearby who has gardened for years, so hope to be able to learn from them. The boys are excited to help, and Simon even dislocated his radius (while helping over-enthusiastically) when we laid these beds! They look very small in the pictures, but are 4X12 feet each, with room on both sides to put in more as we learn what we're doing.

Four cute boys on Halloween.



My mom hosted a Halloween party for the family and a few friends. We enjoyed yummy soups and bread, then the kids went trick-or-treating. They came home to homemade doughnuts made by my sister, Kelsey. Very delicious!

Dwayne has enjoyed taking the boys on a birthday outing the last couple birthdays. This year for Stuart's birthday they went out to lunch, then to the Indy Speedway Museum, then to visit Dwayne's work, complete with a ride on the "People Mover," a train that goes between hospital campuses.

We asked my sister, Kelsey to take some informal pictures of our family while the fall colors were still at their peak. We got one or two decent ones of the whole family before the restlessness and silliness began, as documented below.

Stuart turned 3 on October 30th. Dwayne decorated a "choo choo" cake, as requested by the birthday boy.

Here's the new 3-year-old, eating his breakfast of choice--waffles.

Daniel has been our fastest baby in terms of mobility. The other boys were at least 12 months before they were standing up on their own, so I'm not quite sure what I'm in for with such a little guy on the move! Here he was practicing some walking steps at Grandma's house and then later standing behind a walker toy in the backyard while the rest of us were working and playing.

Occasionally when Dwayne is putting the boys to bed I'll hear lots of laughing, wrestling, and other such goofiness. When I downloaded the pictures a little while ago, I found a series of pictures like these from one such evening.

We went to a pumpkin patch on a preschool field trip and Stuart picked out these pumpkins.


This was a priceless moment of brotherly love and laughs.

We found several free apple sources this fall. Here's the technique--Look for apple trees while driving around. When you see one that has lots of fruit on the ground, ask the people who live there if they mind if you picked some apples. When they say, "Please do, they're all just going to waste!" (all three tree-owners we talked to said this), pick some! (hint: the ones higher up and in the sun are usually less blemished and wormy, so rig a hook onto a long pole if necessary) Using this method, we got enough apples to can about 40 quarts of applesauce and a few pints of apple butter. Tons of work, but somehow satisfying and the boys enjoyed helping. Daniel has eaten down our supply quite a bit already.

Simon is attending a two-day-a-week preschool that is a cooperative effort between four moms (myself being one) from church. We each host/teach one week per month and follow a basic schedule with lots of room for creativity. The kids get along pretty well and are learning a lot. Stuart enjoys participating when it's at our house. Here they are on Simon's first day in September.

One of our favorite features of our new home is the screened porch. When it's warm, it allows you to enjoy the weather without the bugs. I think we're enjoying some BLTs in September with garden-grown tomatoes. One of the great things about summer!

My parents were kind enough to take us in when we arrived in Indiana to begin looking for a home (Dwayne didn't come permanently until 6 weeks later). This might not seem like a big sacrifice, but the whole time we were there, they were trying to sell their house (and still are), so they/I had to deal with cleaning up after 3 little boys whenever there was a showing. Fortunately there really weren't that many, but I think it was always living in anticipation of one that got a little stressful. The boys were great considering all of the transitions they'd been through. Here they are dressing up as some sort of superheroes.


One of my survival mechanisms was PBS Kids. The concept of continuous TV was new to my boys, and once they realized that the shows just kept coming (we only had DVDs and videotapes in CA), they got pretty hooked--which was easy to do with a tired mother of a newborn who was happy to have them sitting in one place instead of potentially messing up a "showing-ready" house. We didn't let it get too out of hand, but they got really excited when a family friend gave us VIP passes to a special breakfast before "PBS Kids in the Park," an annual event in downtown Indianapolis. They even got their pictures with Super Why and Wonder Red. We've enjoyed lots of activities and games on the website since.

Starting at the beginning of the year and later, while Dwayne was apart from the rest of the family for several weeks in April, May, and June, he trained for and ran a half-marathon with his friend, John Chamberlain. (Note: Cheerios was not an official sponsor). He was pleased with the progress he made over several months of training. Watching him run freely made me a little jealous during the final, semi-mobile stage of pregnancy and the confinement of the newborn stage, and I almost resolved to start running once I was a little less tied-down with a baby, but somehow I haven't made it to that point yet. Exercising just for the sake of exercise has always been hard for me, unless of course it's modern dancing or a fun tap routine. I'm still waiting for an adult beginners modern dance class to be listed in our community ed catalog. Then I'll have no excuse.

"Frontrunner," the new commuter train that runs from Ogden to Salt Lake City, had its opening day while we were in Utah. They were offering free rides, so the boys rode south with Grandpa Draper while Kara and Daniel took the van on I-15 and met them in Salt Lake. We enjoyed being able to visit with family in friends in Utah. Eventually it was time to load up the car once again, however, and head to our next destination, Colorado Springs. We were able to see several dear friends, attend our old ward, and enjoy the company, meals, and hospitality at Dwayne's grandparents'.

Next stop was Kansas. Dwayne's parents always put so much thought and effort into making their time with the grandkids meaningful and memorable. Dwayne's dad took the boys to the dollar store to pick out a toy, and they came home with these "water-squirters." A well-spent dollar, if you ask me. They entertained them for hours during that visit and for weeks later as we spent time at the pool.


Riding the go-cart was probably the highlight of Simon's summer. Stuart was a little less enthusiastic at first, but warmed right up to the idea after a couple of rounds in the church parking lot.

Simon and Stuart love their little brother and love to imitate what adults do and say to take care of him. When Daniel is crying, Simon will often say (in a soft, high voice), "I know, I know, I know you had a rough night. It's okay, baby." So far they haven't tried anything dangerous with him and are usually aware of his presence in the room and careful not to step on him, so I hope that kind of treatment continues. Here are various shots of the brothers.


Our last trip to the beach in California. Unfortunately the day was freezing and it was dinnertime (but I had promised!), so the visit lasted about five minutes.

Helping Daddy get dressed for work.

A visit with Aunt Janelle during our ten days in Utah.