Except he’s TRYING TO CRAWL.

Joseph has rug burn on his cheeks and knees. Deep, sad, red marks on both knees and cheeks. He can lift his tush and get up on his knees and start scooting, or he can lift his head up and scoot dragging his body. But he cannot get his head AND his rear end up at the same time. Once he coordinates the two, we’re in trouble.

Who am I kidding, like we’re not already in trouble? We’re so outnumbered.

Here’s the coach trying to pick him back up when he was getting weary. Except he weighs as much as her (and I only slightly exaggerate.)

That little coach started crawling at 5.5 months. C crawled at 6 months, Mo at 9 months, B at 10 months/6 months adjusted age (the week after he came off oxygen - three years ago this week.)

Joseph is three months old. Almost four months, he’ll be four months old next Saturday. But still. Scooting for almost a month now, rolling over for longer than that. Now getting up on his knees? We better start baby proofing, huh?

I love this kind of trouble.

Update: While cuddling my oldest and youngest this evening it struck me again - don’t blink.

Not just because during that blink your home and electronics will all be dismantled and at least one child will run naked onto the front drive. But don’t blink because when you do, seven years fly past and you go from this to that.

And the happiness and ache and laughter and pain and the beauty of it all just engulfs you and you realize how very fleeting the sorrow is and how eternal the joy is…

Update AGAIN: Kit wanted to point out the similarities in our boys.

When, where & how did you meet?

What did you do on your first date?

What was your most memorable date (before or after marriage)?

When and where was your first kiss?

Tell us about your proposal?

When and where were you married?

Tell us about your wedding?

Where did you live as newlyweds?

Anything else you would like to share?

I’m hoping to have them all compiled by Valentine’s Day to send out to my siblings and parents. For now we’re trying to gather the grandkids’ surveys before Christmas. But I’m filling out the courtship survey tonight (instead of folding laundry, can we say procrastination?) I thought it would be fun to post the questions so if you always need something to do while procrastinating, fill out your courtship survey! Or ask your parents their story. If you don’t mind sharing, I love reading love stories so feel free to either post yours as a comment or email it to me or if you post it on your blog, send me a link so I can come read it. And be sure to save a copy somewhere for your children to read. It’s also fun to have your spouse fill it out and you fill it out but don’t read the other’s response until you finish yours.

1 9″ pie shell
1/2 c (1 full stick) butter
1 1/2 c sugar
3 T flour
3 eggs, well beaten
1 c buttermilk
1 t lemon juice
1 t vanilla
pinch salt
nutmeg

Cream softened butter and sugar, add all other ingredients except nutmeg. Mix well, pour into pie shell and sprinkle nutmeg over. Bake 1 hour or until golden brown.

You can get away with 6T of butter instead of 1/2 cup.

That and the “I make milk, what’s your superpower?” t-shirt. Oh, and the “World domination through procreation!” shirt - that one was pretty funny.

We do the 4 loaves batch of bread dough and we then quarter it and bake 3 sections as bread. The fourth section we do as CINNAMON ROLLS because the world needs more cinnamon rolls. Kids, we decided you needed more fat in your life and this is my way of helping reach that goal. I sure love you.

Roll out the dough, spread with butter, sprinkle with cinnamon and brown sugar. Roll up, slice into 12 pieces (half, half those, then slice into thirds.)

Find a cute baby to hug.

Place into greased 9×13 pan and let rise until rolls start touching and you cannot wait anymore.

Bake at 350 degrees until golden brown. If you are so inclined, mix up a couple ounces of cream cheese and a tablespoon or so of butter then a dash of vanilla and mix in powdered sugar for a cream cheese frosting. Add milk if it gets too thick.

I flip the cinnamon rolls out upside down onto a cookie sheet when they come out so the warm and gooey sugar sticks to the rolls instead of the pans. Let it cool and you can flip it back over to frost them. Or start snitching while they are still warm and don’t bother to frost them.

Whole wheat cinnamon rolls. What a strange but yummy contradiction.

And it’s hanging in our living room in all it’s yummy chocolate and butterscotch matted beauty.

Then Mom suggested we do individual shots of all the kids and we (she) cut one mat so we can put in new pictures each year. If we have another baby we can put that shot in the spot where the couple shot is. That means we have space in our car, at our table, and in our picture frame for just one more baby.

We’ve not hung that shot up yet, we’re putting it in the dining room with a picture of the Timp temple where we were married.

Note that in the individual shots everyone is smiling and cooperating and looking perfect? Note that in the group shot there are people flinging rocks? I’m thinking we’ll stick with individual shots until we outgrow the mob mentality around here.

Also look at these pictures and then the individual shots above. What is different?

I am also thankful they let me invade their home with my five energetic kids.

I am thankful for food. I love food. And I am grateful to live in a place and time and situation in which I have never had to experience hunger or see my children go without their needs being met. We are very, very blessed.

I am thankful for my healthy new baby and my four other children that bring joy and chaos into my life every single day. See Joseph here gnawing my arm off?

And I am thankful beyond all measure that I get to spend eternity with my best friend and favorite person and partner in crime and my Love. (Love gets a big L in this case.)

I am thankful.

Scrub sweet potatoes and boil in salted water until fork tender. Put onto cookie sheet and press flat with potato masher, then spread liberally with butter (instead of olive oil) and a pinch of kosher salt. Then sprinkle over brown sugar (and be liberal again) and throw into 450 degree oven around 20 minutes until visibly toasty (watch closely) and the last few minutes sprinkle on chopped pecans to get them toasted. Pull out, cool and devour.