Polar Express 2015!!

We had another fun year at the Polar Express!  Can't believe it was our 8th year!  We enjoyed having my Mom and sister's family join us this year.  :)  It was probably one of the best train rides we had.  On of the guys, or chefs, running our cart was awesome!  He was so lively and upbeat and made it so fun for everyone.  He had everyone laughing and having a great time!

6 Months Old- Happy Half Birthday!

This month has gotten away from me and I am so behind on posting Nathan's 6 months.  He turned 6 months on the 11th.  This time of year is so busy, fun yet busy, but I don't want to forget to write down a few things.

Happy 3rd Birthday Nolan!!

Happy 3rd Birthday to my little Buddy!  On the 1st he turned 3.  Nolan, my first little boy.  He has brought so much fun and laughter to the house!  I love his energy and the cute little things that he will say.  Loves singing and Christmas music right now.  Loves to say, "that is good to me", for anything he likes.  We have also really been working on saying please and asking nice for something.  So we will say to him, "you need to ask nicely or how do you ask nicely."  Then he will say for example, "may I please have some more milk nicely".  Then he will laugh and it will make all of us laugh!  It has definitely been special to have him.  Really likes to test the waters right now but also has such a sweet side.  I love that he is a mama's boy.  His little hugs and kisses are so sweet.  He still has such a special bond with Kaylee too, and it has been so fun to see him step up and be a big brother to Nathan.  He loves Nathan and always wants to help with him when he can.  He will give him hugs and kisses and bring him toys if he seem sad.  He and Alexa are collectively known as the middles around our house for their energy and classic love/hate brother/sister relationship.  Those 2 know how to ruffle each other's feathers and are both loud and wild, but when they put their guard down and forget to annoy each other they can actually play really sweet!
The last three years have gone so fast and can't believe he is 3!!  He loves Mickey Mouse right now so he wanted Mickey themed party decor.

Time to Decorate!

I always love when it is time to transform the house to Christmas and make our fall tree into a Christmas tree.  This year it was us and the girls....except for Nathan in the very beginning before bed.  Nolan had already gone to bed.  It was nice to just have that special time with them.

Kaylee trying to reach the top to put the star on.  Almost there.....just a few more years and she will be tall enough!  

Thanksgiving

We had a nice Thanksgiving day with my sister's family and my Mom joining us.

Alexa putting the Thanksgiving date on the calendar

Violin and Music Concert

The kids have been taking a music class on Saturday morning at a local church.  The girls have been doing violin and chorus and their is even a class for the little boys with singing and learning about music.  They had a little concert back in November.  

November Stuff

Love his little turkey pj's

Fall Tree!

Every year the day after Halloween Ryan takes out the Christmas tree and we make it a fall tree.  I love having our tree out longer and the fall look in the living room.  Ryan and I saw a fall tree a few years back walking into Hobby Lobby and  he said "we have to do that"!  So we got a few fall stuff on sale and started the tradition.

Too Cute!

I just LOVE these next few in the blanket!  Such a cutie!

Halloween!

This year Kaylee had a cute appetizer she wanted to make!  Little witch brooms... 

Halloween Stuff!

Cute Lunches for the kids!  I can't take credit.  Ryan did these!

Nathan 5 Months!

On the 11th Nathan turned 5 months!  Suddenly that is seeming so much older.  Can't believe we are almost to the half year mark.  Like always time seems to go so fast.  No Dr appointment this month to find out his weight so we will have to wait until 6 months.  Here is what Nathan is up to right now:

Sweet Nathan

Here are some more pictures from the last few weeks of our sweet little Nathan!  Can't believe he is almost 5 months!

Evening Daddy snuggle time.  He will often fall asleep on Ryan before his last feeding of the night.

Mortimer Farms

This year we tried out Mortimer Farms to pick out our pumpkins.  We always used to love to go there when it was Young's Farm.  We love how it is a little cooler then in the valley, and you can pick your pumpkins right out of the patch.  It is a little pricey to get in, as they all are, but at least included in the price everyone gets to pick out an 8lb pumpkin to take home.  If you go over the 8lbs it is just an additional 75 cents per pound so not bad at all.  Lots of fun stuff for the kids to do...... hayrides, corn maze, jumpy things, pony rides, rock climbing and all included in the price.

All sporting our orange!

We're Off To See the Wizard!

Fun night and fun family theme this year!  Lots of fun pictures to post from tonight and from the pumpkin patch a few weeks ago.  Hopefully I will get to it soon.  Unfortunately I just realized all the pictures from tonight are a little blurry.  I had left my camera in the setting for close up shots from something I had taken earlier in the day and forgot to put it back.  Oops!  It might have something to do with the fact that I have had about 3-4 hours a sleep every night for going on 4 1/2 months.  Just a thought!  Hope everyone had a Happy Halloween!

4 Months!

Nathan turned 4 months on the 11th!  I am a little late posting this because life is just a little busy right now and the days get away from me.  ;)  Crazy with homeschooling and nursing a baby the days go so fast just keeping up with the schedule.  

Fire Station Field Trip

A few weeks ago Ryan did a fire station field trip for some people in our homeschool group.  It was fun to see Ryan sharing with everyone what he does and what goes on at a fire station.

Nolan is so cute he still loves getting his hat, coat, and boots on whenever we are going to a fire station.  :)

Nathan's New Trick

He is just so stinkin cute!  Love how he likes to grab his little feet now.  :)

Camping

Last weekend Ryan took the girls camping with our friends the Fullers at Woods Canyon Lake.  This is the second time they have all gone camping together.  They also went in April and they decided they want to make it a twice a year event.  So far it has just been the dads and the older kids going but eventually they want to get moms and little ones there too!  Maybe next time or when I can start to eat normal again from nursing Nathan.  Or if they decide to bring a pop up trailer next time....hmmmm.....never been a big outdoorsy girl....could be interesting. :)  They have all had so much fun doing these campouts and our girls really look forward to this!

Silly Day

This year the girls wanted to do a silly day again where they dress crazy for school.  We did this last year too.  Last year I think Kaylee was the only one who actually came out silly.  This year Lex joined in too.  Slowly throughout the morning the silly stuff came off.  :)

Sweet Baby Boy

Cousins!

Love these pictures of the cousins!  And if you look closely on Asher's shirt he has a fun announcement!!  He is going to be a big brother in April!  We are so excited for them and can't wait  to meet their new little one!

3 Months!

Nathan turned 3 months on the 11th!  Hard to believe.  He is such a sweet little guy and I love him so much!

First Day of School!

The Wednesday after Labor Day we were back to school.  It was going to be Tuesday but my Mom's group that meets every other Tuesday was that morning and I did not want to start on a half day.  None of us minded the extra day! :)  The kids had blueberry muffins, bacon, and eggs for the back to school breakfast.  Of course we also had to get pictures with the back to school signs!

Apple Picking

Last Saturday we had the fun of our yearly apple picking trip.  The weather was a few degrees cooler then usual so that made it a little better.....not great but better.  You will take high 80's when you are used to being in the 100's.  :)  Everyone had fun and Nolan was really excited about it this year.  Last year he was still pretty little and did not remember.

Rolling Over

Yesterday Nathan rolled over for the first time from his tummy to his back.  I thought it was a fluke at first, seemed kind of early, but then has done it several times since.  He is only almost 12 weeks.  He has never been a huge fan of tummy time.  He has been doing a little bit better lately but now I can't keep him on his tummy!  I thought for sure when I got out the camera and tried to capture it on film he would not do it.  He surprised me and I could barely pick the camera back up after putting him on his tummy before he was flipping over again!

Newborn Pictures

I just realized that I never posted any of Nathan's newborn pictures.  Here are a few of them:

A Visit With Family

My aunt and uncle came into town this week and they got to meet Nathan for the first time:

Nathan 2 Months Old!

On Tuesday Nathan turned 2 months old!  Nathan is just such a sweet baby and I am loving my new little guy so much!  In the last week he has started becoming really smiley and will give us the cutest little coos.  I love how he will now really notice our smiles and give us a big smile back.  He is also just starting to get a little distracted when nursing and I am sure in the next few months that will only get worse.  I remember that with Nolan.  Right now Nathan thinks it is fun to just stop and smile at me.  :)  He is a happy baby as long as we are not doing tummy time...then he gets so upset poor guy!  In the last few days he has started giving me longer sleep at night, Yea!!!  He will go from about 9:30 to 5-6am. I was at the point where I really needed sleep.  I think it gets harder as you get older....or after going through it a few times I knew sleep was coming and I was so ready for the break of more sleep.  It is so short in the scheme of things but those can be the longest 2 months getting there!  I have him on a schedule for the most part of eating at 6, 9, 12, 4, 7, and 9-9:30 and then down for the night.  His longest nap of the day is from about 1:30-4.  I have never done such a schedule with my babies but with homeschool starting soon I need to be on a predicable nap and nursing schedule so I can plan our day.  Working out great and it only took 3 days of the schedule before he starting making it through the night.  Sometimes he wakes up about 4 or so and I just give him his binky, maybe pick him up a few minutes and he goes back to sleep until 6ish.  After the 6am feeding he goes back down until about 9am.  Before I was nursing him when he woke up at night but I was finding that he would eat for 2 minutes and go back to sleep.  I figured he obviously did not really need to eat then, just be put back to bed.  Also we are not struggling in the weight dept.  He was a whopping 14.6 pounds at his 2 month appointment.  He even has my big boy Nolan beat by a couple pounds.  If he was not so big I might night be able to stretch the night that long yet.  I am just thankful for more sleep.  Nursing is going much better then it did with Nolan.  With Nolan I had to pump after most feedings to get my supply up.  It got messed up after I stopped temporarily with his cows protein sensitivity.  That was exhausting and a struggle for several months.  With Nathan my milk supply has been fine.  The diet on the other hand has not been fine.  That is worse then it was with Nolan.  With Nolan I just had to cut our dairy and soy, but with Nathan it is dairy, soy, wheat, and every other spice or gassy food that is in the book.  Ugg.  At least this time around I know it is just for a season and temporary.  Not as traumatic as it was with Nolan.  At least I loose my baby weight quickly with these crazy diets!!  In the last week he has switched to size 2 diapers and some of his 3 month clothes are starting to seem tight!

Big Brother Little Brother

I thought these were so cute of the boys in their Big Brother Little Brother shirts.

Love how Nolan actually grabbed Nathan's hand. :)

7 Weeks!

Here are some pictures of Nathan at 7 weeks.  He is really starting to chunk up for still not even being 2 months yet!

Cutest Lunch Ever!

Nolan loves Micky Mouse right now and Ryan made him the cutest little lunch.  We think it is time for a Disney trip next year.  :)

6 Weeks!

Nathan is 6 weeks today!  Here are a few pictures I took of him:

Cow Appreciation Day!

This past Tuesday was Cow Appreciation Day at Chick fil a.  We did not want to miss out on our free meals.  Here are the kids all ready to go in their cow outfits!  This was our first year of doing this and I was amazed that our meal was 100% free.....as long as you are dressed like a cow.  Fun to see everyone all dressed up at the restaurant.  Some people really get into it.   Pretty nice thing Chick fil a does and amazing it is nation wide.

We said to show us your Moooo!

Art Camp

Kaylee had an art camp at church this week.  She loves doing any kind of art or painting so this was perfect for her.  Here is what she did this week:

5 Weeks!

Five weeks already!!  Don't usually do week pictures but he is super cute in his little diaper and we had fun blocks to take his picture! :)

Nathan 1 Month!

Nathan was 1 month on the 11th.  Crazy that we are here already but I know that time seems to fly!  I feel like it is only getting faster the older I get.  Now add a new baby in the mix and you blink and he is already a month old.  I told Ryan back in May that suddenly I am going to wake up and it will be time to get the fall stuff out! :)  Already I feel like the new school year is not that far away.  So back to Nathan.......we are just loving our new little guy.  It is amazing how you can just keep loving those new little babies more and more!  The girls just absolutely love him and want to hold him all the time.  Even Nolan has done incredibly well and also wants to take his turn.  I find myself often saying to the kids to give him a little space because they just want to nonstop kiss and love on him.  Not a bad problem!  I feel like the transition to 4 was easier then the transition to 3.  Maybe because things are already crazy and still had one in diapers.  What is one more, right!?!?  Also it has been so nice having a baby in the summer when everything with school was all done and it is too hot to do anything anyway.  I am sure that has all made it easier not being in the middle of a crazy schedule.  Nathan has been such a good baby.  Often sleeps a lot and wants to nurse about every 3 hours.  At night will give us 4-6 hour stretches usually.  He loves his swing and his papasan chair to nap in and loves his glider at night.  That thing is wonderful and worked great for Nolan too.  Wish we would have had that for all the kids.  He likes to be swaddled at night and that helps him to calm down.  He really likes being in the Solly Baby wrap and often will just fall asleep in it.  Takes the binki sometimes but does not always want it.  Starting to look around and be more aware of things a little bit and has also given us a few more smiles! :) Of course loves to be held and we love to hold him!    I find myself calling Nolan Nathan, and Nathan Nolan.  I was worried with both being N names that would happen. :) I already can't keep track of who is who.  I am sure I will be doing that for the rest of my life! Ha!

7th of July Cake

I mean who does not make a 7th of July cake....right?!?!  Well this year the yearly Gregor 4th of July flag cake became a 7th of July cake.  I say better late then never and we have a pass this year with a 3 and a half week old.  :)  We actually really tried to make it on the 4th, then the 5th, and then finally we were able to make it on the 7th.  After we got home from Prescott I got everything out to assemble the cake...even did the whole frozen store bought pound cake this year to make life easier, and had pre-cut up all the strawberries the night before.  I sliced up the first pound cake and put them in the bottom of the pan and was all ready to spread the first layer of cool whip.  I went to open the cool whip and noticed that the top was slightly not on right...even with the seal in tact.  I opened it up and sure enough it was bad.  Ugg.  Didn't even have heavy whipping cream in the fridge to make up my own.  The girls were so sad and bummed about no flag cake.  I told them I think this was the first year in probably 15 or more years that I was not able to make a flag cake on 4th of July.  Had been making one way before I got married.  It was already getting late and no time for Ryan to run back to the store that night before he was taking the girls to fire works.  We figured he would just have to go tomorrow.  So Ryan went back to the store on the 5th.  Again got my pan back out of the fridge that had the sliced pound cake in the bottom, got out the fruit, got out the new cool whip and right away notice that the same thing was wrong with this cool whip!  The top was slightly off again even with the seal on!!  Ahh!!  Fry's must have had a bad batch.....and I guess Ryan forgot to look.  Oops!  The poor girls were totally bummed again.  It was also getting too late in the day for Ryan to head back to the store again so we were just going to have to wait until the 7th.....Ryan worked the 6th and I was not going to take 4 kids out to get cool whip.  Finally on the 7th we got an undamaged cool whip.....Ryan checked good this time, and we were able to make our cake....our 7th of July cake!

So happy to finally be making our cake!

4th of July!

We hope everyone had a fun 4th with friends and family!!  We took our usual trip up to Prescott to get out of the heat and have some small town fun.  It was Nathan's first big outing other then to the Dr or Costco.  :)

Making Rice Krispies treats the night before

Our oldest and youngest

Love this picture that Ryan got of Kaylee and Nathan as we were tucking in Kaylee last night.  All the kids love to have Nathan come tuck them in.  So precious!!!!

Splash Pad

Ryan got the kids out of the house yesterday and took them to the splash pad:

Father of Four!

Happy Father's Day to our new father of 4!!

Ryan, you are the best Dad to our kids and the best husband!  You work so hard to take care of us and are always willing to help out even if that means making a triple cup of coffee in the morning, in the 4 cup measuring cup!  :)  We love you so much!!

Love you sense of humor babe.  You always make us laugh!

Loving our new little guy!

Our 3 guys!

Nathan Going Home!

Getting all ready to go home!

More Nathan

More hospital pictures:

Welcome Nathan Ryan!

We are so excited our little guy Nathan Ryan is finally here!  He came at 40 weeks and 2 days on 6/11/15 4:05am!  He is 7 lbs 7.2oz, and 20 inches long.

Helmets and Skates

Nolan had been really wanting his own helmet after seeing the girls use theirs.  So we found a Dusty helmet at Target.  He was so excited he wore it all through the store, the way home in the car, and until we were able to go outside and try it with his bike.  

First Home Haircut

Here are pictures of Ryan giving Nolan his first home haircut.  I have been cutting Ryan's hair at home for awhile now and we decided we would start trying to cut Nolan's at home too.  Boys hair need to be cut so much more often then my girls, so we thought this would also be a good way to save money. When Nolan was so young and moving all over I thought it would be easier to bring him to Cool Cuts.  Now he is used to it we gave it a try.  We put Nolan in his booster chair in front of the TV and he did great!  Ryan did a good job too! :)

39 Weeks!

I don't usually take many belly shots....actually I have took none this pregnancy, but Ryan talked me into a 39 week pic!  We had to try out the new camera!

Memorial Day BBQ

On Sunday of Memorial Day weekend we had a little BBQ with my Mom and sister's family.  Ryan was able to capture a few cute pictures of the kids playing in the water.

Mother's Day 2015

I did not personally take any pictures of Mother's Day this year.  Ryan was working so it just did not happen with me taking them. :)  We were able to get the ones done of us at church so we have something to remember the day with.  I was almost 36 weeks when these were taken and looking very pregnant!  Hopefully our little guy will be here next week.  We can't wait to meet him!