Getting Crafty

We did craft projects - Noah couldn't get enough of his sticker projects he was very proud of them.

Are you sure these are washable making pens?

Alex got as much maker pens on herself as on her paper - I was getting worried she was ruining her clothes so when I tried to keep her from getting them on her I realized she thought it was funny and just scribbled on her shirt more. :)

A bike ride around the neighborhood

The first day I was with the kids we went for a bike ride around the neighborhood - (I pushed Alex in the BOB). Noah demonstrated his tricks -notice the first pic - bike riding with no hands!

Every so often Noah would stop to pick up a leaf or a stick to add to his collection. There are so many trees there and they were in their fall colors - I've never hit it just right in my trips before, it was so beautiful. Alex just enjoyed the ride, her blankie and her thumb.

Halloween Night in Cleveland

I was lucky enough to come in the night before Halloween to stay at Summer's with the kids. This isn't a good picture but we got the kids dressed and out the door and met at Summer's friends house. It was a beautiful evening and kids started showing up in their costumes to all go out trick-or-treating together. While we waited for everyone they ran around the front lawn happy as could be in their costumes. They were so cute. This moment made me have deja vu for all the Halloween nights I spent out with my own kids in costume. Thank goodness for grandkids or all the fun stuff might be over. I was so glad I got to be there - and I bet Summer was glad too because with Paul already in Miami, two trick-or-treat bags, and two trick-or-treaters full of energy and running the streets of Cleveland I don't know how she would have managed the night alone :) Thanks for sharing the moment with me Summer!

Noah - the Pilot

Noah was a pilot and looked very cool in his costume.

Alex in Costume

Getting a picture of Alex in her cute ladybug costume turned out to be the impossible feat. Here she is from the back anyway - she looked darling!

Trick or Treating in Cleveland

Taking the kids out Trick-or-Treating was super fun. Summer met up with some other friends in the ward and all the kids were so cute. Alex was a handful - a squirmy ladybug and Noah thought it was a great event. He would run ahead up to the doors and thought it was great how all you had to do was say "Trick or Treat" and people gave you candy. His only complaint was his candy bag was too heavy. He wanted Grandma to carry it all night :)

Tanner's Mission Papers Are In!

Tiff took this photo of me. This is the picture that L. Tom Perry will look at when he sends me to Guatemala I MEAN....wherever the Lord tells him to send me. My interviews are done and dad will be submitting my paperwork within the next day or two. Wednesday November 21st is the day I'll open it in front of you guys. I cannot wait! It's a very exciting time. I'm glad I get to share that experience with the entire family. Just three more weeks! See you all then!!

Tanner

Thanksgiving Gift Exchange!

So Tiff and Summer agreed to draw names for a gift exchange at Thanksgiving, so John and I drew names so that we could have time to get our shopping done.

Here is how it goes:

Mom and Dad have Summer and Paul
Summer and Paul have Clowards Baby
Tiff and Randy have Mom and Dad
Michele and John have Tanner
Tanner has Noah
Landon has Tiff and Randy
Noah has Landon
Alex has Michele and John
Baby Cloward has Alex

Let me know if any of this doesn't work for any reason. I think last year our budget was $15 to $20. Nobody pull a Michael Scott and buy an ipod and go way over budget. That would not be cool.

Gift Exchange?

So I'm wonderind if we are drawing names for this year to exchange gifts at Thanksgiving? Mom and I talked about it... I'm all for it... but leave your comments to let me know if you all want to or not. I like to do my shopping in this week if we are, so lets decide!

Our Regular Visitors

We've had more deer in the backyard this year than I ever remember before. The other day there were 6 in the back yard. This afternoon there were 3 - I wished Noah and Alex were here to show them - so I decided to take a picture. Two of them weren't too happy about it but this guy just sort of watched me while I watched him make his way across the yard.

Can't wait to see you Grandma!

Noah is on the countdown...4 more days till Grandma comes! He complains, "but mom, that will take forever!" And for several days now he has been telling me (multiple times a day) "mom, I'm going to have hot chocolate with Grandma." I guess you're usually here when it's cold outside : ) Both of the kids are VERY excited to go trick-or-treating with Grandma. I'm excited to take both of my kids trick-or-treating too, and I'm so glad you'll be here to enjoy it with me! And, of course, I can't wait to have my husband to myself for 4 whole days in warm, sunny Florida! We can't wait to see you!

And Dad, everytime we talk about Grandma coming Alex asks about her "bompa" (I'm serious)!

Celebrating our 28th Anniversary

John picked me up from the airport on Friday and whisked me off to San Francisco to celebrate our 28th wedding anniversary. John continually out does himself - we stayed in a suite at the Ritz Carlton in San Francisco. It was pretty amazing. Beautiful room, HD TV's , even a mini TV in the bathroom, pretty view, access to a special lounge with food 24/7, plus the company of the most romantic, best husband in the world who spoils me. It doesn't get any better than that - I am a very lucky! It was a wonderful weekend!

Mission Accomplished!

The main reason for going to Utah was to help Michele finish up the baby's nursery and get all the baby bedding sewn. We finished the bed skirt and the bumper pads and sheets, we even added a little pillow. Despite some problems when we were all done we had to agree it looked wonderful. Michele has put together a beautiful nursery and I have never seen any one so happy to be pregnant. (Sorry - I can't relate. For me it was always miserable and just a means to an end. But Michele is really enjoying it) It was so much fun to work on this project together.

Thanks to John for being so patient while this project and me monoploized all of Michele's time.

Also to my John and Landon - they were good sports about being bachelors last week. Landon reports that his Dad is good about taking him out for dinner but that on day 2 he couldn't find a clean spoon in the house. Guess I have to teach him some self reliance before I head off to Cleveland in a week :)

Michele and the Triplets

I had so much fun going with Michele for the day to watch the triplets. It is so cute to see how much the girls love her and how good she is with them. The whole thing is pretty overwhelming but Michele seems to have it all figured out - feeding all 3 at once, play time, nap time. Michele is going to be a fabulous mom!

Autumn liked me!

I wasn't sure I could tell the triplets apart (except for autumn who has the dark hair) but after just an hour or so their personalities were so distinctly different it was easy. They were all so cute but I think Autumn was the friendliest. She is so cute! Spring liked me too but Winter was having a rough day and pretty much just wanted Michele.

Thanks Dad!

We were able to attend the final session of conference today. We always love going. I was planning to take some pictures but we were in a hurry on the way in because parking was a nightmare, and on the way out, we were rushing to get home because a pregnant woman can't hold her bladder for very long! John thinks I'm a baby...

Anyway, we wanted to say thanks to dad for giving us tickets. There is nothing like when the Prophet enters the room and everyone stands. We wish you all could have been there. Of all the talks I think Pres Eyrings was my favorite, about recognizing the blessings from the Lord. I realized that one of our blessings is dad being the stake president. Not only because we get tickets to conference, but because I believe we get blessings as his kids, for the service he provides. Also, Sister Becks talk was wonderful. I couldn't help but think I am so lucky to have a "mother who knows." We love you both. Oh, and dad, we were wondering which credit card we could charge our sunday brunch on? : ) Ha Ha! We LOVE you!

22 weeks! (but who is counting?)

So we had our 20 week ultrasound. He is beautiful and weighs 1 lb 1 oz. He looks very healthy and is growing right on schedule. He moved his eyes and mouth during the ultrasound, it was crazy. He moves so much and now I can feel him almost constantly. I have gotten much bigger over the last 2 weeks, I think he had a growth spurt, or I am just eating too much. Either way, I'm starting to really show and John loves it... he says my belly doesn't even look real. When the baby kicks or punches hard John can feel it so exciting, it makes the pregnancy seem like it is finally real. I spend a lot of time in the nursery these days. We ordered a glider and I can't wait for it to get here so we can put it in there and I can sit in it and wait for him : ) I still have mixed feelings about whether or not I want to be pregnant forever or if I just want him out... though the bigger I get and more uncomfortable it becomes, the more I want him here. I can't wait to see his little face. It is the strangest feeling all the sudden to imagine him being out of my body and in my arms. The last week I have been feeling different about him... like he is real and I actually love him like a mother loves her baby, and I think about who he is and where he is coming from and how he is half of John and me and I feel so incredibly lucky and blessed. Everything about him is a miracle to me. 18 weeks to go! We hope it flies by!

A beautiful San Francisco day

Tanner was home for a quick weekend for a trip to Kaiser for his mission physical. John had to be at a Emergency Prep Fair at Northgate most of Saturday and Tanner wanted to go do something - so after a stop in at Northgate we went to San Francisco for the day. (Just the two of us) The weather was gorgeous! There was a big sail boat race out in the bay, we went to my favorite french bakery and explored the North Beach neighborhood. Then we went to this park near the Museum of Modern Art - I'd never been here before and it was really pretty. We made a quick stop in Union Square so I could return something and called it a day. A very nice day - wish you could have all been there with us - it really was beautiful! It was fun to have Tanner home for a visit - even if it was just a quick one.

Our new talent...

Our latest addition to the nursery is the changing table I bought on craigslist back before we were pregnant. It was a real steal... just $100! It was bright white and I wanted it to match the crib, so we sanded it and painted it beige and added cute hardware. It was a pretty fun project, and quite a deal, $30 for primer and paint and $30 for knobs. You could never find a changing table this fabulous in a store for $160! Needless to say, I am pretty proud. 21 weeks down, 19 to go!

Am I allowed a favorite??

Autumn is the cutest. (the one with dark hair and pig tails) I know I should love them all the same, but she has the most personality and is the happiest most of the time. Spring and Winter, the identical ones, require more attention than you can give to a triplet sometimes. Autumn is walking now and is so funny I just laugh at her all day long! Spring is not in these pictures because she pretty much has cried ever since Summer left. She misses mommy. Winter and Autumn are happy to have me as a surrogate for a few days. They love me : )

What we do AFTER dinner....

They love the shower! Autumn crawls around the water to play with the toys and Spring never moves from being right under it. When they are all in there they have fun, but getting them in and out alone is a nightmare... By this time it is bedtime so they get tired and grumpy and wow... I run out of patience. This is the best job to have when you are expecting your first baby... one will seem like a piece of cake! I'll have to remind myself of that frequently when he arrives.

Triplets + Spaghetti = DISASTER

So I spent the last 3 days with the babies while the rest of the family is on vacation. It has been exhausting and eye opening to be with them by myself for 24 hours a day! I told John I wasn't so sure I wanted twins anymore! They are so cute and funny but wow... what a handful! They just started eating dinner in their high chairs with real food and they LOVE it! This was so entertaining to watch them eat spaghetti and meatballs with their hands. Needless to say, we went straight to the shower after dinner. I got a work out running up and down the stairs to put one baby in the shower at a time. They seriously are the funniest babies... but my goodness, I think God knew what he was doing when he gave me one baby instead of 2!

A few more pics of our house...

Our House!

We have been meaning to put some pictures of our house on the blog, but we wanted to wait until we painted and we just finished painting our living room and kitchen today. So here are some pics! It looks completely different from before when it was just a bachelor pad...I guess it just needed a woman's touch : )