An Auction For a VERY Good Cause

My cousin Jennifer is heading up a fundraiser for a well-deserving family, here is their story....

Our friend Shannan and her husband Monti gave birth to a beautiful 8 pound boy last Sunday after emergency c-section. The cord came first which is the baby's lifeline to not only food but oxygen and blood. The doctors and Phoenix Children's Hospital did all that they could, and after many tears, prayers and medical life saving measures the machines were turned off on Friday, and he was returned safely to heaven on Friday afternoon.

This was supposed to be a time of rest and relaxation for the family, but that was not meant to be. They are reeling, emotions are raw, and the funeral expenses were not expected.This is were you come in.

"WHAT CAN WE DO TO HELP?"

This Thursday through Saturday (hopefully many) blogs will be hosting online auctions to raise money to cover the funeral expenses, and time off work for the family.If you will be hosting an auction or would like to donate an item email me at shannanrandall@gmail.comI will have a list here of all the places you can shop!

AUCTION RULES AND INFORMATION If you would like to bid on an item:*Please place your bid by leaving your Name, Email, and Bid Amount in the comments section of the item you are bidding on. The auction will go on from Thursday till Saturday, keep checking the comments to see if you need to bid higher!

IF YOU WIN THE AUCTION:*Please pay your high bid amount directly to the Baby Harry Fund at PayPal by clicking on the link on the sidebar.*Please forward the receipt they email you to the person running the auction with your shipping address. The person running the auction will then ship your won item.

Here is what I am auctioning off...

A Cherry Blossom Scentsy Warmer, perfect for spring time, along with a Lucky in Love Scensty bar!! If you don't already have a Scentsy Candle Warmer, you need one!!

This would make the prefect Mother's Day gift!!

The bidding will start at $1.

Check out Jennifers blog for more auctions! Happy bidding!

Nice Mom vs. Boring Mom

When I'm feeling really willing to please and I get nagged enough by "I'm bored, what can I do?", this is what we do....

When I ignore it too much, this is what I FIND!!

What are your Sunday afternoons like?

When I was a kid, you would never know how Sunday afternoons would end up. We would all just get sick of being together all day and it would end in fighting. The other alternative would be that we would all just get silly. We would feel it coming on and we would call it, "uh-oh, silly Sundays". Here is a glimpse into our Sunday afternoon...

Happy boys

Sage Coloring (her assumed position, she loves to color)

I tried my hand at making bagels and they turned out pretty good, like the real thing.

I was pretty sure I got a picture of Ben sleeping but mysteriously it isn't on my camera anymore. I wonder where it went.

A little light hearted fun

Here are the rules:
1. Go to your my documents/my pictures
2. Go to your sixth file
3. Go to your sixth picture
4. Blog about it
5. Tag six people

This is my niece Morgan. She is the sweetest, most thoughtful 7 year old I know. She is always thinking about Sage and wanting to give her everything she owns. She literally has given her almost everything she has owned since she was born. We have gotten all of Morgans hand-me-downs and we have loved every minute of it! She loves to read, play soccer and make sure everyone feels involved with whatever she is doing. She is very patient and helpful to her mom (my sister). I'm glad she is my niece.

I'll leave the tagging up to whomever wants to do it. Hey, for nothing else, it's good if you need to update your blog and you have nothing to say.

What is on my mind

* I don't get that stressful feeling in my stomach very much but when i do, I don't like it. I don't even know what stresses me out but I've got to figure it out and throw it away!

* I used to understand politics so much more before Obama was president, I feel lost these days.

* I hate the winter because there is so much sickness! I just want my kids to stay healthy.

* Our family played in the snow on Monday and had the best time! I wish we could have stayed longer to cuddle under blankets and drink hot cocoa and cider.

* I'm grateful that my Mother and Father-in-law are OK after being in a motorcycle accident. We have been so blessed!!! It is amazing to see such huge miracles personally in my life!

* I love saving more than I spend at the grocery store!

* My little baby is growing too fast. I want him to stay little forever. I don't want him to roll, sit up, or eat solid food.

Thanks for wasting a minute or two of your day for me!!

Have a good one!

The Newest Family Photo

We went to the Mesa Arts Center to get a big family picture with the Shumways. They were nice enough to let us get individual family pictures too.

Then, two days later, I cut off all that hair of mine........

Wakey, Wakey

What is the difference between a 2 year old waking up from a nap vs. a 4 month old you ask??What is up with kids waking up grumpy? I never know how to bring them out of it either ....

Rhett went to the doctor a week ago. He weighed in at 14 and 1/2 lbs. and 27 inches long. Surprisingly he had an ear infection, you know one of those that you would have never known about had they not been at the doctor. He is such a happy baby, we are just soaking him up!

Go Cardinals!!!!!!!

Our Spider-man/cowboy/baseball player

Westin has really taken off on t-ball. If he had it his way he would play all day and all night!!

What's in a Pedometer?

I got a new pedometer this weekend. I busted it out today and it was love at second sight!



At first I felt scammed because I would watch it while I walked and it didn't seem like it was giving me the right credit.


"How rude!" I thought.


Then when I ignored it for 5 minutes and I looked again I was well over 200 steps. From then on I knew we were meant for each other. Now, here I sit, 7:00pm and I'm over 6,500 steps. I have nearly looked at it that many times, too.


I hear that every day we should take 10,000 steps. I'm not sure if I'll make it today, but what a great goal!! I love the idea that I get to add the energy I put in running around my house to the total goal.


Here is to a new found motivation!

I'm Hungry

My kids have been telling me every 5 minutes that they are hungry! It is driving me crazy! Not only are they eating me out of house and home, but it is totally out of character for them. We are not snackers and they have not usually eaten too much. I have some theories I will share with you.

1. They are going through a growth spurt. This is probably the most likely one but for some reason I'm having a hard time accepting it.

2. They are really just bored. This one is also plausible because I am no fun. In fact, I am a fun crasher, I hate fun.

3. They want the attention. They want me to have that interaction of "what do you want" or "this is what you can have". This is also possible, I'm pulled just a few ways through out my day.
My only way of dealing with this is to give in. If I tell them to wait till the next meal, I have too much guilt so I must figure this out. We attempt to make it healthy. By doing that I'm hoping that they will buckle around their motives if they truly are theory 2 or 3. If it is theory number 1, then I am being a really good Mom!

The Cattle Prod

My cousin Meg has gently encouraged, mentioned or requested some much needed updating. Since I'm sure she was addressing me in this post, I will take the bait.

I will try not to bore you to tears with all the Christmas events. Rest assured, all the t's were crossed and all the i's were dotted. The kids got their fair share of the true meaning (as well as the not so true) of Christmas.



We got together with our friends and we made Gingerbread houses with the kids. How come in my mind it was so easy to make them. They are a hassle! I guess all that matters is that the kids had a great time, and they did!

Christmas day was had with lots of excitement and family. Our families were so good to us, we are so appreciative.



We hope you all had a great few weeks of holidays!

A Blessing

We blessed Rhett last Sunday. Ben gave a lovely blessing! We were grateful for all the people who came to support. It's so hard to believe a little under 3 months ago I was so worried about this little guy. He has just amazed us all since the day he was born. On Monday (a.k.a - laundry day) I washed the blessing outfit and Sages dress (seen above) together and now the blessing outfit is slightly pink. I can't believe I did that, so silly!

Cute Family Pictures

Pulling off family pictures is always harder than it looks! PLEASE enjoy!

Happy Birthday Sweetheart

Happy Birthday Ben!

I can be almost certain that I do not give my husband enough credit on this blog. He is wonderful!! I wish I had more time to dote over him more, but I just don't. I feel so blessed to have him as my husband. I'm so glad that his parents raised him to be such a great person. He really is the best dad ever. Our kids don't have a clue how good they have it. If they don't have his full attention whenever they want it, they don't know how to react.

Ben - I hope you had as great of a birthday as you made mine. I love you!

Where to begin?

I don't even know where to begin so I'm just going to go off the cuff here.


We went to Mexico for Thanksgiving this year. It was a fun time, as usual. The kids enjoy the sand and the change of scenery. Traveling with three kids is a bit tricky. With 7 hours of travel each way, car sickness, nursing in the car and entertaining there is never a dull moment.
Rhett is growing really fast. At his appointment yesterday he weighed in at 11 lbs. 4 oz. He is 2 1/2 months now, hard to believe. I haven't been able to get him to crack a smile yet. He's a serious one. We are all excited for Christmas around here. I was out last night with Wes and Sage and I decided to run in really quick to the temple lights since we were right there. A choir was just getting ready to sing and the lights were twinkling brighter than ever. It was just beautiful. After being there about 15 minutes, I got a call that a certain baby was hungry and we were off and running.


Here is to a non-stressful next couple of weeks......

Finally.. a new post

Life is crazy with three kids! It's amazing how hardly anything gets done, but we never leave the house. It never used to be like that.

Halloween was great. Sage has started being very sensitive. She gets scared very easily. Funny but sad at the same time. We started off at Grandma and Grandpa Shumway's house and then made it over to Grandma and Grandpa Howe's house. We were all done at the end of the night.

(Ben thought this random guys costume was great so he got a picture)

I had the best birthday last week! Ben did a great job! He had the kids get me gifts, made me breakfast, took the day off work, took me shopping, took me to lunch and gave me a pedicure (I hope he doesn't mind me spilling the beans on that one). 27 wasn't so bad after all!

The baby is growing like crazy. He is weighing in at about 9 lbs! He is sleeping and eating great! I just love this little guy. I obviously love all my beautiful children but I feel a little different about this baby. I don't feel any feelings of frustration with him, which I can't say about my other 2. I'm sure it's his temperament but I don't mind doing any thing for him! Such a sweet boy.

Halloween fun

Westin's preschool class did a cute little costume parade and sang a few songs today. He was so cute to watch. He was all smiles, the whole time. I was pretty lame when it came to my kids Halloween costumes this year. I opened our dress up box and told them to pick something they wanted to be. The good thing about this is that at the two different parties/occasions we have had to get dressed up, Westin has been something different each time. I've always kind of thought it was the mom's responsibility to make a homemade costume every year. Even better would be a scary homemade costume. As with everything in my life, my opinion has changed. Now it's all about what a mom can manage to pull off!!

Happy Birthday - a little late

Westin had a birthday last week. He made out like a bandit. That morning, he let me sleep in a little (which was so nice) and then he came in to tell me he was hungry. I gave him a big smile and I said "Happy Birthday!". He was so excited, he had totally forgot from us reminding him the night before. I know that will never happen again. Ben's family had a tradition of making every ones birthday just like Christmas. All the presents get opened first thing when you wake up in the morning. We have tried to do the same thing. If your not careful, it would be easy to mix up the pictures of birthday and Christmas, they look the same.

On another note...

I've heard a couple of people say they are printing their blog into a book so that it truly is a journal, not just a journal you can read online. I think that is a great idea. If I have any plans of doing that I need to become a better blogger.

Up to the Minute News

I just took these pictures and I thought they were so cute I just had to share.

Rhett is 4 weeks old today

The Run Down

What I have been up to -

nursing, sleeping, nursing, pooping and nursing

What I have been up to -

making messes, getting into anything I can get my grubby little hands into, learning to deal without a pacifier, and loving/smothering my little brother.

What I have been up to -

celebrating my early birthday with cousins, loving preschool, wanting more brothers and sisters (crazy), and wanting to do big kid things.

What I have been up to -

nursing, disciplining, nursing, thinking about politics, nursing, changing diapers, nursing, lining children out with projects, and nursing.

What I have been up to -

Being super dad, working, lining children out with fun outdoor activities, being a much needed lending ear to his wife, and working