A little trip goes a long ways

I told Chase this morning that our little trip to Boston was just what me and the boys needed!  Every so often I feel on city overload and it feels so great to get away for a few days.  

Our first stop was in Springfield, MA to watch Mac's basketball game!  We were so excited to get to watch him play.  The boys thought it was awesome and now think every white team on ESPN is Lone Peak.  

Jackson wanted to show McKay his little basketball really bad.  We forgot to show it to him after the game and he was pretty disappointed.   I told him I would send him a picture of it.  

Mac, this picture is for you!

Chase doing this little shooting contest.  

He won this headband and has been wearing it ever since.  Literally wears it everywhere and think he is awesome!

After the basketball game we drove the rest of the way to Boston to spend the next few days at the hotel.  Chase worked and we swam!  I was a little worried about being stuck at the hotel for two days but it was so much fun and the boys were great!  Our day went like this...

We ate breakfast, got our suits on, swam until it was time for lunch

 headed back to the room, ate some lunch, took a little nap, and headed back to the pool!

They loved it and swam their hearts out!  Little Caleb was a trooper and slept in the corner the whole time!  

So peaceful

Last night in the hotel and sad to go back 

Jackson was finally willing to smile with teeth!  

  He loves his half smile.

I must say that the trip was a dream until....it was time to come home.  Back to reality, and this picture right here is my reality!  Awesome!  We were late getting the rental car back so our plan was to have Chase drop me and the boys off in front of our building and I would slowly get all the bags up to our apartment.  We pulled up to our street and what do you know,  the road blocked off.  Great.  Chase hurried and ran the big bags up to our building and then it was me, the boys, and this rig.  I felt pretty awesome pushing this up the sidewalk, trying to squeeze in the door and onto the elevator as I was holding Caleb with one arm and pushing with the other, and giving a nice happy smile to all those that I passed along the way!

All this for a few days of fun.  Was it worth it???

YES!

Caleb is 1 month old

I have been waiting all week to write about the first month of Calebs little life!  He has already brought so much joy into our family!  It has been fun to see the boys love and take such good care of him.  Each of the boys are so proud of their baby brother and treat him like a little prince.  They are constantly aware of him and are always trying to help out.

From youngest to oldest:

Jayden loves being an older brother!

His time has finally arrived and so far so good!  He definitely went through a few weeks of throwing a few extra tantrums but is back to his normal self and luckily never expressed it towards Caleb.  He loves to help me give him a bath, get him dressed and everything else.  

My favorite thing is when Jayden gets his favorite dog "Pudgy" and lays it next to Caleb.  I think he assumes that Caleb loves his dog as much as he does.  In his mind he is so proud to be sharing his most prized possession with his favorite little brother!

  Jackson is always aware of Calebs needs; he worries when he cries, covers his feet if they are uncovered, and secretly goes in the room and turns the light on when he is taking his nap despite how many times I keep turning it off. He tells me he is worried that Caleb is afraid of the dark.  

Jackson gets so excited when Caleb is awake.  The second he opens his eyes He think he is ready to play.  Today he asked if Caleb could take a bath with him.  I am beginning to think that Caleb is looking more and more like Jackson, especially in the eyes.

Chase is very nurturing by nature and fits the oldest brother role perfectly.  If he could, he would take care of Caleb all day long.  He wants to hold, feed, carry, read him stories, and if he was a little older I would turn it all over to him and would know that he would do a great job!  It is fun to see how each of the boys with their very distinct and unique personalities each tend to Caleb in a different way.  

 Now a little bit about CALEB!

He is still such a sweet little baby.  He sleeps quite a bit but when he is awake he is super bright eyed and loves you to talk to him.  

He likes taking a bath but does not like when I put lotion on him.  

He is a trooper whenever I have to pick the boys up and rides in the snuggly like a champ- so far!  Every once in a while I will catch him smiling in his sleep! It makes me so excited to see him start showing expression and to find out more about what his personality will be like.  

The older boys are quite jealous of his new Jordans!  

A little big but I couldn't wait to try them on.  

I must say that life has changed quite a bit with the addition of our 4th child.  I use to think that we were stretched quite thin, now I know a little better.  I use to think that getting out with three kids was over the top, now it feel like a breeze.  It is funny how your perspective changes with change.  As with most change that occurs in life, there is opportunity for growth and I am grateful for that. My boys teach me lessons every day.  To sum it all up I will just say that it is through the beautiful experience of motherhood that I am learning to become more like my Savior.  

Caleb we love you so much and we are so blessed to have another sweet spirit in our home.  

We Love You!

Christmas Day

Our Christmas started bright and early!  I had just finished feeding Caleb at 5:00, went back to sleep, and fell back into a deep sleep when we heard the boys in the living room with the lights on at 6:00.  When Chase got up to stop the boys from diving into their stuff, I assumed that he would take the boys into their room to let me sleep a little longer. But suddenly Chase, big Chase, was in my face waking me up to come see if Santa came.  I must say I was not in the mood.  I was completely exhausted and irrational.  I got up and although it took me a minute to come to I was somehow able to change my mood to enjoy Christmas morning with the boys!!!

Chase and Jackson love superheroes these days!  

Jayden loves them just as much but He is also into trains!  

He loves trains and wanted nothing more than a "two trains" from Santa! 

Unfortunately this set that I thought was so darling was a little too complex for the little guy and made him more frustrated than happy so back to Santa's workshop it went.   

Chase

Jackson

The funniest part of the day was the fact that Santa somehow mistakenly put an orange in Jackson's stocking.  He could not get over the fact that there was an orange in there.

I think it took him a few minutes to enjoy his toys because He was in orange shock.  

"Mom, I will just go put this back in the fridge, crazy Santa!"

We decided that we wanted to start having yogurt parfaits for breakfast on Christmas morning.  They were quite yummy and hit the spot, lite and delicious!  

Can't wait until we have a kitchen big enough so that I can buy me pretty 

glasses to make them even better.  

Jayden did love his car mat!

and they LOVE their new dinosaurs

My favorite gift was my new running hat and water cup, with a straw!!!

The rest of the day we relaxed, watched movies, and enjoyed watching the boys 

play with all their new toys!

Merry Christmas

Trying to get a picture of the whole family without anyone to take the picture was quite challenging.  Between Jayden and Gauge trying to jump in the picture we were lucky to get this one!

But, I must say that if we had wanted Gauge in our picture he did a pretty good job of jumping in line.  He kept laying down at the end by Jackson.

Ho HO Ho

'Twas the night before Christmas

 Christmas, Caleb, and Cookies!

The Sunday before Christmas we decorated cookies

took them to our neighbors

and enjoyed them ourselves!

I have found a new cream cheese frosting recipe that bumped my old favorite, buttercream, down to second.  It was so delicious on the sugar cookies and it even stays soft in the fridge!  

Then we hunkered down for our first Palmer boys sleepover

Chase wanted to hold Caleb the whole time

The boys could not believe that I would actually let them stay up and SLEEP out in the living room.  They thought it was the coolest things ever.  I think it is their new favorite tradition!

CHRISTMAS EVE

Figuring out our own Christmas traditions has been quite challenging over the last few years since we don't have family around.  Every year Chase and I try to plan out what we want each day to be like.  The last two years have been far from what I would picture as a picture perfect Christmas and usually ended in tears.  This year I tried to go in with a more specific game plan and I must say that this Christmas was much Merrier.  But here is the thing, it actually wasn't too different than in years past, still very simple.  I think the difference is that I have realized a few things over the years. It is all about the joy in the journey.  My hope is that each year it will get closer and closer to the beautiful and magical Christmas that I remember as a child but there is a time and a season for everything. The memories that we have of this phase in our families life is priceless.  

Take a look at this manger scene

The great thing is that in their little minds they have got it going on

Chase as Joseph.  

He put his outfit together on his own.  It consists of my scarf, kitchen broom, towel with red party streamer from my craft box.  He thought he was the star of the show.

Baby Jesus asleep in the hay

Jackson's character of choice was a donkey and Jayden a sheep

That left Dad to be the Wisemen, Shepards, and narrater all in one!  Actually, I am really not sure what he was.  I think he just wanted to get in on the fun!

After our Christmas Program we enjoyed a meal provided by our neighbors downstairs due to the arrival of Caleb.  I tried to tell the ward that they did not need to bring dinners over during the holidays but they insisted.  So our Christmas Eve dinner this year was homemade Calzones which were absolutely AMAZING!  I have never made them myself but if I can master the recipe it might become a new Christmas Ever tradition in memory of our silly Christmas's in New York! 

After Pizza I pulled out my homemade Red Velvet Cake that did not turn out so well.  The good news is that I think the recipe is a keeper I just needed to cook each pan separately because it took much longer for the middle to cook which made the edges a little burnt.  I also needed to bake it the night before to make it extra chilled and moist.

Oh...and...one more things, work on my cake decorating ability.  This is what I hope and dream my  Christmas Eve Cake will look like next year!

Yes I know, I have a lot of practicing to do:)

The best part is that Jackson kept reminding me and everyone else that it was not the best cake ever.  

"I like the Ice Cream better than the cake."

 "Ok guys, who likes the Ice Cream better than the cake!"  

"ME!!!"

-the jacksonater!

We finished our cake

watched our traditional Christmas Eve film

Mickey's Christmas Carol

then headed to bed

And all "in Hopes that St. Nicholas soon would be there."